


Burn Part II

by fictorium, InspectorBoxer, sgvirtualseason



Series: Supergirl Virtual Season [13]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Aliens, Bisexual Female Character, Boss/Employee Relationship, Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence, Death Threats, F/F, Femslash, Final Battle, Guns, Journalism, Lesbian Character, Mother-Son Relationship, Television, Threats of Violence, Virus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-05 11:13:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 26,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12188907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictorium/pseuds/fictorium, https://archiveofourown.org/users/InspectorBoxer/pseuds/InspectorBoxer, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sgvirtualseason/pseuds/sgvirtualseason
Summary: As events in National City come to a head, how many fronts can Supergirl fight a war on? Can she keep Cat safe and get to Alex? How can she work with J'onn and M'gann and their human friends to protect the whole city?For every inch of progress they make, they risk making Lillian angrier. How will she lash out next?





	1. Act I

  
  


More killer gif work from @xy0009. Love on the art in the comments or hit the [Tumblr ask](http://supergaysupercat.tumblr.com/ask).


	2. Act I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Livewire attacks CatCo with shocking results while J’onn and M’gann team up to fight a mutual enemy.
> 
> Locked inside Cadmus, Alex and Maggie get their first look at the alien virus.
> 
> Lucy and Vasquez need to bust themselves out, before Lillian finds her way in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our editors have performed superheroic acts of their own to get this series ready for you all, so praise on them at will:  
>  catherinegrant ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/catherinegrant) | [tumblr](http://catherinegrant.tumblr.com/ask)), @spaceshipsarecool ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceshipsarecool) | [tumblr](http://spaceshipsarecool.tumblr.com/ask)), and @musetotheworld ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/musetotheworld) | [tumblr](http://musetotheworld.tumblr.com/ask))

**TEASER**

The lights flickered.

Cat ignored them, too incensed to care. “Idiot,” she muttered as she slammed her phone down, resisting the urge to call her Head of Programming back just to fire him. She resented the time and mansplaining endured to get her way, especially given how many times she’d had to make calls like that to thwart the villain _du jour_.

“I think my manhood shrunk by proxy,” James said from the couch where he’d been quietly researching leads on Cadmus.

“The way he protested, you’d think he was another Cadmus convert.”

James glanced up, startled.

“Sadly, not everyone has that as an excuse. This is just garden-variety incompetence. Besides, even Lillian’s drugs couldn’t break through that much hairspray.” Cat swiped her cell phone off the desk, tempted to call Kara or J’onn for an update. She’d tried calling Alex once more, but it had gone ominously to voicemail. As she ran her thumb over the screen, there was one particular thought she couldn’t shake. “Is this my fault?”

“What?”

“Alex? Winslow? The DEO? If I had gone public about my abduction…”

The lights flickered again, and Cat ripped off her glasses, frowning at the chandelier above. Maintenance had better get a tighter grip on their horses soon, because the static in the air already had her on the verge of a migraine. What better way to clear her head than letting a few others roll?

James settled in the chair across from her. “It was your word against hers, and for a while there you weren’t sure.”

“It was still my word. As Queen of all Media, I’d like to think it carries more weight than a cabinet secretary. Especially one named Luthor.” Cat tapped her lips with the end of her pen. “It’s time we lay our cards on the table, but this time I’m not reporting the news, I _am_ the news. I can hardly be objective.” She eyed him. “You’re going to run point on this.”

James blinked. “Cat, wait–”

“Work with Snapper. Between the two of you, you might manage my usual level of genius.”

The lights sputtered once more. “What the hell? Eve!” Cat snapped, forgetting herself and calling her assistant by her actual first name. “Get maintenance up–”

Electricity arced behind her, blowing out several screens and showering Cat with sparks. More lamps and monitors popped and exploded in the bullpen as James jumped to his feet.

When Kara’s sleepy smile appeared on her lock screen, Cat knew exactly why she was calling.

“Leslie?” Cat whirled and demanded her nemesis show herself, the hair on her neck standing on end. Before Cadmus, a threat like this would have sent her grasping for the sanctuary of her home, and most likely the nearest bottle of Scotch.

Today? She’d had it with these jumped up hairdos threatening her safety, her sanity, and her company. Rupert and Ted didn’t have to put up with this bullshit, and it was a frustration too far that even death threats were a source of inequality.

Cat rolled her shoulders beneath her favorite McQueen silk blouse and took a steadying breath as Livewire’s laugh echoed across the floor.

“Here, kitty, kitty,” came the distorted taunt a moment later, and Cat was nothing if not a professional who knew her cue. She snatched open the second drawer on her desk, the one that had hidden Kara’s resume for two long years, and reached for the one thing that might keep her alive.

***

**ACT I**

Head still throbbing from the concussive force of the flash bang, Alex grimaced as her boots struck the concrete. She stepped back from the ladder and glanced up to check on Maggie.

Two Cadmus agents eyed her, weapons drawn, but Alex ignored them in favor of getting her first look at the hell she’d descended into. A long, empty hallway stretched out before her, littered with closed doors. Just like her dad had told Maggie, the base appeared to be some kind of military bunker. It smelled as old and disused as it looked. Fluorescent lights buzzed annoyingly overhead, inflicting pain on her already burning eyes.

Maggie joined her, their shoulders brushing before she pressed closer, warm and solid, against Alex’s side. “Charming,” she grumbled.

Alex said nothing. All those months searching for her dad, the endless nights of coffee and files, dead end after dead end, and he’d been right here, _right here_ , under her goddamn nose. How many times had he walked this hall while she’d trained or worked above? How many opportunities had been missed?

Two more operatives climbed down behind them. One gave Alex a rough shove between the shoulder blades. In no mood to be manhandled, she pivoted, ready to throw another punch.

Maggie grabbed her wrist. “Easy.”

“Move,” he ordered, but he didn’t touch her again.

Reluctantly, they complied. Besides the way forward and back, there were no detectable escape routes. Most of the metal doors were sealed and devoid of windows, some even welded shut. It all added up to precious little intel.

They came to a cross hallway and veered left for a time before being shepherded into a dimly lit lab rivaling Alex’s in size and tech.

“Dr. Luthor will be along soon. You should get started.”

“Go to hel–” Alex was cut off as the door slammed shut and locked.

“You should have let them kill me, Danvers,” Maggie said when they were alone.

“I’m not apologizing for keeping you alive.” Alex stalked their temporary prison, eyeing the equipment in the low light before snatching up a tablet and skimming the data on it. Mortality rates stared back, and her stomach roiled at the numbers.

“You can’t let her use me as leverage. There’s too many lives at stake.”

Alex slammed the tablet back on the counter, making Maggie flinch. “I’ll do whatever it takes. You should know by now the people I care about come first. If you think you’re not on that short list, you haven’t been paying attention.”

“And if you make this virus and it kills Kara? M’gann and J’onn? Can you live with that? I can’t.”

“I’m not making anything,” Alex said, keeping her voice low in case someone was listening. “I’m going to find out what they know, how far along they are, and then get us the hell out of here.”

“Alex–”

“Lillian will kill us both if she gets her way. Sacrificing yourself solves nothing, okay? I’m willing to die to keep my sister safe, but I’m not giving up on getting us out of here. Not until we’re out of options.”

Alex turned away and flipped the light switch next to the door. The fluorescent bulbs flickered on, revealing a room ringed with whiteboards. Black and blue formulas were scrawled over every inch of them, and Alex went still, following the flow of logic the way a musician would follow a score.

“What’s wrong?” Maggie asked.

After months of reviewing his work, the handwriting was as familiar to her as Alex’s own. Her dad had been locked in this very room before her, forced to plot genocide to keep his loved ones safe.

Like father like daughter, she mused darkly.

***

Kara flung open the door to Cat’s balcony and barreled inside. M’gann had insisted Alex was safe for the moment, but the same couldn’t be said for Cat and the city.

Barely registering the sprinklers spritzing water over her hair and suit, Kara was struck dumb by what she found. Leslie had gone for Cat, all right. Only instead of menacing her with bolts of electricity, the former shock jock was face down on the soaked carpet, handily restrained by Eve Tessmacher. Both were drenched, and Leslie howled in frustration.

And then there was Cat.

Because Cat Grant, CEO, media mogul, mother of two, and the most powerful person in National City, was currently held aloft on the broad shoulders of James Olsen. They both smiled triumphantly as water cascaded over them.

“Having fun?” Kara couldn’t help how snippy she sounded. She’d nearly broken the sound barrier to get there, only to walk into what looked like a pool party gone wrong.

“James dear, you can put me down now,” Cat said with a fond pat to the top of his head. As she splashed lightly onto solid ground, she took a long look at his clinging shirt and tilted her head in appreciation. “Can we have maintenance, or the fire department, or really anyone who knows where the off switch is, deal with the downpour?”

Snapper piped up from the far corner of the office as the staff stood behind him, dripping at their desks. “Thought you said wet t-shirt contests weren’t appropriate for the workplace.”

Kara’s brow furrowed until she glanced at Cat again. Her cream, silk blouse had draped sinfully that morning, but now, soaked through, it gave a clear view of Cat’s barely-there lace bra. Kara swooped in to cover her with her cape before anyone else could enjoy the show.

James ducked out, and a minute later the water shut off.

Cat shivered a little in Kara’s arms, huddled under her cape.

“We should get you dry,” Kara told her, leading Cat to her luxurious private bathroom.

“How the hell did Leslie get out?” Cat said, turning on her in full journalist mode, even with droplets of water splashing from her hair to her shoulders. Kara passed her a towel from the cabinet under the sink.

“Lillian turned four aliens loose on the city to distract me and M’gann. M’gann is handling the White Martian first and I came here. I can see I wasn’t needed.”

“I thought Leslie was with the NCPD?”

“Not since the Cadmus fallout. Metahumans were moved to the DEO until their internal investigation was complete.”

“It’s like Lillian wasn’t even trying,” Cat scoffed as she towel-dried her hair. She looked more than a little smug, and Rao did Kara find that quality attractive. “Leslie can be terrifying, and damn inconvenient, but since we know it takes a quick splash to short her out, I went with that. Miss Tessmacher is going to bundle her into that flotation tank I never use downstairs. Let’s hope Leslie finds being locked in a puddle in the dark more relaxing than I ever did.”

“And you couldn’t have achieved that with a fire hose or something? Did you really need to be all over James like that? How did you even manage it in that skirt?”

“The fire hose wouldn’t reach,” Cat pointed out. “So plan B was required, and James was closer than a ladder.”

Kara narrowed her eyes. “So I assumed right? You _climbed_ your Deputy CEO to set off the sprinklers with a lighter? I _knew_ you hadn’t gotten rid of those emergency Marlboros.”

“Do you really care with all you have going on today?” Cat frowned at her reflection in her mirror. So much for her perfect blowout. “I’ve been trying Alex; have you heard anything?”

Kara shook her head, her jaw tightly clenched.

“Between the water and electrical damage, I won’t be broadcasting out of here anytime soon. We’ll have to go remote in our effort to bring down Lillian.”

“You got something on Cadmus? Something to finally nail them?” Kara asked, seizing on the first piece of good news all day. Had it really been just that morning they were making out in the town car?

“Not exactly.” It wasn’t like Cat to keep things from her, but Kara knew hedging when she heard it. “But I’ve made some decisions, and I’ve thrown everything CatCo has at Cadmus. One way or another, we’re breaking a story tonight. The trouble is that people won’t listen to a report on property deeds and tax returns. We need first-hand witnesses.”

Kara snorted. “Good luck finding those. If they’re not dead, they’re bribed. Our story on Maggie barely moved the needle. All people cared about was that cops were dirty.”

“We’ll make them care,” Cat vowed. “No one’s excluding themselves from this narrative. Not anymore. God, I need to change.”

“Everything in your returned dry cleaning is soaked,” Kara confirmed by popping out into the dressing area. “I can go get you something–”

“I’ll get something on the way to… where can we go? That old station we used for Myriad won’t hold what we need this time.”

“M’gann will find room for you,” Kara suggested. “And the DEO are there if you need to run anything past J’onn. Speaking of, I should go. There’s three aliens still out there.”

Cat kissed her. “I’ll be at the center if you need me. And you’ll find a way to Alex. Just handle the threats one at a time. They can’t keep coming at us forever.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” Kara sighed, stealing one last kiss before whooshing out of CatCo and back into the sky.

***

_I can handle this,_ M’gann tried to assure J’onn when she felt him coming, but it couldn’t hurt to have backup. _If I can convince him I’m a true White Martian, that I agree with his goals, I can catch him off guard and–_

_His name is Armek. We imprisoned him last year._ J’onn landed beside her, no longer hiding his true nature. _He’s promised to kill me many times since. Apparently he holds a grudge._

_Armek? He was my commander on Mars._ M’gann’s stomach twisted. She supposed there was no use in pretending to be on his side, then. _He was crueler than most. J’onn–_

He cut her off, more than familiar with their cruelty. _What form will you take to fight?_

_Form?_

J’onn folded his arms over his chest, his cape whipping behind him in the wind. _You passed for a Green for a long time. If that’s truly what you want to be, there’s a place at my side to fight as the second-to-last Green Martian._

In her human form since landing from her flight from the desert, M’gann clutched at her chest out of instinct. Around J’onn, she didn’t know how to be anything else. To take her original form would be a threat to him, even now, but she hadn’t taken on the countenance of a Green since he’d learned the truth.

Which was Armek’s cue to land with a crash outside the DEO building, scattering the few remaining cars that hadn’t been entirely destroyed by falling rubble. Her former commander, unleashed on National City. His zeal for slaughtering Greens had been legendary, and now he was faced with the one who escaped, and a traitor to boot.

M’gann braced for impact as Armek lunged towards her, but the hit never came. J’onn tackled him side-on, knocking them through the wall of the alley they were fighting in. As Armek gained the upper hand in their struggle, M’gann saw her chance to land some serious hits. Her fists connected, and a roar burst forth from her chest, something primal unleashing years of shame and regret. She transformed in front of him, defiant.

“You betrayed your people, M’gann M’orzz,” Armek hissed, spitting blood on the ground as he kicked J’onn aside and squared up to her. “You’re worse than this scum I’ll eradicate today. How fitting you should disguise yourself as one of them. Your downfall, as always.”

“We deserved to be betrayed,” M’gann spat back. “We’re monsters. They did nothing wrong, and I won’t let you visit this final injury on them. Not today, Armek.”

“You will address me as Commander!” he yelled, too distracted to see the incoming blow from J’onn.

Armek collapsed on the ground. “She is no longer under your command,” J’onn informed him, landing some fresh punches. “She is nothing like you. A good leader should know when his troops are lost to him. Give up, you bastard.”

“Never!”

“Then die,” M’gann proclaimed, passing sentence on him as he had on so many back on Mars. “Or you could have your chance here on Earth to live a new life, forget your past crimes and live in peace.”

J’onn stared at her in disbelief, his expression mirrored by Armek.

“I was given my chance,” she said. “Now consider this yours. If you’re given a fair trial, and punishment, there will also be a chance to join this society, integrate yourself with Earth instead of trying to destroy it.”

“I’d rather watch you burn with it. Compassion, M’gann? Just when I thought you couldn’t get any lower, you–”

She cut him off with a crushing blow to the neck. In her long period of plotting to escape Mars, she’d studied their weaknesses like a scientist, often hurting herself in the process. It had paid off again, as the White Martian crumpled to the ground in front of them.

“You mean to offer amnesty to every alien we’re chasing?”

“I had to make the offer, but there will be many who refuse as he did. Too hell-bent on destruction.” M’gann expected to feel something for the dead, some sense of loss as she struck down one of her own. Instead she felt relief, her head clear and her chest no longer tight. “They’ll be my responsibility at the center, unless a line is crossed. Then – and only then – will the DEO be allowed to take them in.”

“Okay, okay.” J’onn held his hands up. “It’s going to take some getting used to, not treating every alien as a hostile.” He smiled briefly. “Can you bear with me?”

M’gann nodded, sending a peaceful feeling along their shared connection. “Yes, if you can be patient with me. I’m not used to fighting the bad guys.”

“You’re doing fine so far,” J’onn said, motioning to the dead body at their feet. “Now show me that move.”

***

“Woah, welcome to Splash Mountain,” Adam joked as he walked in, his shoes sloshing on the carpet. “You okay?”

“Soggy,” Cat replied, towel still draped around her shoulders. “I have a big story I need to break tonight, and I’m going to have to rough it on location. I’m sorry I won’t be around for the rest of your first day.”

“Could I come with?” he asked, and Cat quirked an eyebrow at his eagerness. “I mean, sounds kinda cool. I’ve only seen Cat Grant, CEO. Might be fun to see you out in the field.”

Hitting her right in the regrets was an effective strategy, a trait he must have inherited from her mother. “If you’d like. The show must go on. Even if it has to go on somewhere else.” Cat weighed her options and decided to plunge ahead. Better he hear the truth from her. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“More than you dating my ex?”

Cat ignored the dig. “A few months ago, I was leaving CatCo to start my sabbatical, only to realize my car was being driven somewhere I hadn’t instructed.”

Adam frowned. “Was this around the time you called about lunch in Opal City?”

“Mmm,” Cat confirmed, not elaborating. This was her first run at telling the story out loud. It would be polished later, the hesitations appropriately timed and spaced. Somewhere between Princess Diana’s “there were three of us in this marriage” and Tom Cruise bouncing on a sofa. “My plans were changed for me. I didn’t forget.”

His shoulders slumped a little at hearing she hadn’t just left him out, perhaps letting go of the latest in a long line of tiny grudges against her.

“So… what happened? Were you kidnapped or something?”

“Or something,” Cat murmured. “It was never about money, though. I knew my captor, and she knows both of us better than I’d like. I think you know what I’m about to say, Adam. This might be easier if you tell me you already know.”

“Know what?” His confusion was damn convincing. “Wait… are you serious? You’re telling me Lillian _abducted_ you?”

“Abducted and tried to brainwash me to use Catco for her own ends.” Cat came around the desk, splashing less than delicately on the soaked floor. “I may have to talk about this publicly soon. The explosion earlier today? Lillian was behind it.”

“She wouldn’t do that.”

“She killed fifteen people, Adam, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Cat, I’m worried about you.” He didn’t back away from her, at least. “Dad always said you were crazy, but I figured that’s just what people say when the divorce is bitter and your kid’s mom cares more about her stock value than his grades. But this sounds completely insane, like some tinhat on a Reddit forum.”

His words stung, sharp and deep, but Cat didn’t flinch. “I’m sure Lillian was counting on that and my silence, but she has to be stopped before she hurts anyone else.”

“Look, I’ve heard the rumors about the drinking, the pills. You’ve been under a lot of stress lately.” He stepped in closer, trying a kind smile that Cat couldn’t bring herself to trust.

“I’ve been under stress my whole life, darling. It doesn’t change what Lillian tried to do to me. She also got to Snapper and god knows who else. Maybe she’s even done something to you.”

Adam ran his fingers through his hair, as if chasing a phantom itch. The thought of Lillian strapping him down, twisting his thoughts against her, made Cat sick, even as a flicker of hope ignited in her chest.

“I… I need to think about all this. Is that okay?”

“Of course. Still want to come with, or have I changed your mind?”

“I’ll come,” he decided. “Maybe we can talk some more later.”

“I’d like that,” Cat said, hoping like hell he meant it.

***

“Why are you all milling around like toddlers waiting for naptime?” Lillian demanded as she strode down the corridor. The soldiers bristled, but Sam had drilled enough discipline into them that they continued to follow orders. “And why don’t we have control of ops yet?”

Her team leader stared her down in a manner Lillian didn’t appreciate. “They were able to implement a full lockdown. We just need more time.”

“Work faster. The woman in there – Lucy Lane – shot and killed her own father. My husband.” She tried to affect a tearful moment, succeeding when she considered Lucy’s mutiny had forced her to kill Sam right in the thick of the fight. For that alone, Lucy deserved every bullet coming her way.

Sam’s loyal soldiers straightened at the news.

“If we’re going to take our planet back, we need to root out these alien sympathizers once and for all. Don’t let me down. Don’t let your general’s memory down.”

It worked on the enlisted men, at least. One or two of the mercenaries rolled their eyes at the cheap sentiment, but she trusted their loyalty to a paycheck above most things.

“When I return, that door better be open,” Lillian warned. “And get me a live news feed in here. There’s no reason we should be in the dark ages.” Someone needed to keep an eye on Cat Grant, and Adam likely wasn’t up to the job. Honestly, Lillian scoffed as she marched off, did she have to do everything herself?

***

“They don’t give up, do they?”

Lucy secured her tactical vest, her eyes darting to the blast doors. The odd crackling sound deep in the metal suggested Cadmus were cutting through too fast for her liking. It sucked when the bad guys had better toys than she did. “My father is stubborn that way. Figure out how they got in yet?”

“It’s a big facility with a lot of damn doors,” Susan grumbled, running her hand over the DEO blueprints to smooth the edges down. She’d dredged up the hard copies when Cadmus killed their power, and had scoured them for more than an hour now.

They worked under the dim light of the backup generator as agents milled about, armed to the teeth and waiting for Cadmus to breach their last line of defense.

Lucy leaned against the table at Susan’s hip. “Any doors we didn’t know about?”

Susan shook her head and turned the page, going level by level as Lucy watched.

“You’re distracting me, ma’am,” Susan said after a moment. Lucy quirked an eyebrow in question. “You’re standing really close and smell really good.”

A smile flickered across Lucy’s lips. “Are you flirting with me, Agent Vasquez?”

“No, ma’am. When I start flirting with you, you’ll know it.”

“ _When?_ ” It wasn’t the time, but they were likely as good as dead anyway, so what the hell.

Susan met her gaze intently, and Lucy’s stomach fluttered. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I’m your superior, Susan. If there’s going to be flirting, I need to notify Pam in HR.”

“You might want to get on that while I finish with these blueprints. She likes the forms in triplicate.”

Lucy snorted, but she savored the heat simmering between them. It beat the fear settling in the pit of her stomach. Snagging a corner of the schematic for level seven, she tugged it toward her. “I don’t think I’ve ever been on this level.”

There was no need for her to visit the prison most days, her duties largely concerned with catching aliens rather than containing them. But the prisoners had been on her mind lately, especially after Maggie’s impassioned speech in M’gann’s defense. If they got out of this, case reviews were in order.

She frowned and lifted the page closer to the light. “What is this?”

“What?” Susan shifted closer.

Setting the blueprint back down, Lucy pointed to the floor at the end of the cellblock, where a square lay over a portion of the grating. “Why is it marked like that?” She grabbed the level six plans, looking for similarities, but found nothing.

“Access panel, maybe?” Susan pulled the electric plans out of the pile and skimmed them.

“Is it?”

“Nope.”

Lucy’s instincts began to hum. “What else could be under there? Drain? Crawlspace?”

“I don’t know, but I’ve found no other way for Cadmus to get in. Not without tripping any alarms.”

“We would have seen them on the surveillance feeds,” Lucy argued.

“We don’t tend to have the general prison on the main monitors. Only the inmates in maximum security. And this morning we were looking at the damage to the downtown base. Cadmus pulled some major smoke and mirrors on us.”

Lucy drummed her fingers on the table. “It’s a long shot, but we’re out of options. If they got in this way, we need to know how and plug the hole. We just have to find a way to level seven without opening the damn blast doors.” She settled her hands on her hips and sighed.

“There’s a way,” Susan said slowly, “but it’ll suck, and Cadmus could be waiting for us.”

“Well, when you put it like that, how could I say no?”

***

“Careful!” Winn hissed as James stepped down from the truck. With a bandage around his head and a wrist to shoulder cast on his arm that apparently _wasn’t as cool as Alex’s_ , the poor guy really did look like he’d been through the wars.

“You know, man, I’m a little tired of hauling everyone around today and getting nothing but complaints. I’m carrying you like a damn bride.”

“You hit my head on the door, Olsen,” Winn grumbled. “I already have a concussion. You wanna upgrade that to brain damage?”

“Boys, boys.” Cat emerged from the building, and James almost dropped Winn in shock. He’d expected her to trade her soaked clothes for more designer threads once they’d brought the satellite trucks over to the refugee center and set up. To see her in DEO fatigues made him worry _he_ had the concussion.

“Nice duds,” Winn said with a giggle. “God, these painkillers are amazing. I’m hallucinating Cat looking like GI Jane.”

James tried jostling him into silence, but was too late. “They had uniforms in your size?”

“Clearly not.” Cat plucked unhappily at the excess fabric on either side of her waist, but the black polo did hang pretty well. With the cargo pants belted tight and the standard-issue boots, it was like Halloween come early. “My kingdom for an on-site tailor.”

“I don’t think that made the list of essentials. I’m gonna put Valley of the Dolls here somewhere safe and then we’ll talk.” He started inside, ready to unload his human cargo and get to work.

“James?” Cat called after him, scurrying as quickly as she could in regulation issue boots.

“Yeah?”

“I meant what I said earlier. I need you to take point tonight. I’m not objective.”

“None of us are–”

“You will be,” Cat assured him. She glanced around to make sure they couldn’t be overheard before continuing. “Remember, you’re the man I trusted with my kingdom. You asked the tough questions when everyone else was happy to pretend everything was fine. I also have reason to believe Cadmus have a mole in my ranks.”

“You don’t mean…”

“I’m afraid so. Plan on conducting the interview tonight at the downtown DEO, or what’s left of it. It’s looking like we’ll have to take a chance on goading Lillian. If she won’t come out of her own volition…”

“But she has Lucy, Alex, and Maggie.” James caught the thread. “Kara’s not going to like that.”

“And Kara’s your girlfriend,” Winn said, cracking up. “Ow! How many places did I break?”

Cat rolled her eyes. “Take him inside. We’ll talk about the rest later.”

***

Landing outside the refugee center, Kara was so relieved the two escaped Anndranns had chosen amnesty over further destruction that she almost forgot how stressed she was. It had been a hasty offer, one J’onn had told her to try over comms mid-fight, but it had worked.

She nodded to the DEO agents standing guard at the doors, leading the recaptured prisoners inside.

M’gann and three of her colleagues Kara didn’t recognize met her in the hall.

“At least something went right today. We’ll get them settled,” M’gann promised as the other aliens led the Anndranns away.

“The White Martian?” Kara asked.

“Handled,” M’gann said simply. “And I sent a few trusted colleagues to the desert. They’re keeping their distance for now, but they’ll let us know if anything changes.”

“Thanks, M’gann. I don’t know what I would have done without you today.”

“Glad I could help. And speaking of helping, if you’ll excuse me…” M’gann hurried to greet a new family stepping inside the center.

Kara left her to her work, wandering through the building until she came upon the large family room. She spotted Winn, propped up on a sofa and surrounded by laptops on every surface imaginable. James was trying to help, but Winn shooed him away with a less-than-coordinated wave of dismissal. Despite their slightly competitive start, they’d become best friends, and it lifted Kara’s spirits to see them. James caught sight of her and moved to intercept her with a hug.

“You okay?” he asked gently.

She let him go and nodded. “How’s Winn?”

“High,” James teased. “I hope you’re not too worried about Alex. She’s probably halfway to rescuing herself. Especially with that pint-sized detective following her around.”

“I dare you to call Maggie that to her face,” Kara shot back. Despite her persistent anxiety, James’s words reassured her a little. Alex was no damsel, and given half a chance, Lillian would wind up the one in distress. She perked up a little, glancing around at the cords and cameras littering the space. “Did Cat ship all of CatCo here?”

“Including herself,” Cat announced, emerging from behind a tower of Pelican cases. “Two aliens down, no more to go?”

Answer. Kara needed to answer. Words, unfortunately, deserted her in the face of Cat in DEO attire. Who authorized this? How was it possible Cat had made a simple black shirt seem tailored like everything else she wore? The flipped-up collar was maybe because the ends of her curls were still damp, and Cat hated wet hair touching her, but it really wasn’t helping the series of short circuits in Kara’s brain. That was before she got to the cargo pants, which admittedly didn’t fit quite right, but that meant they sat low on Cat’s hips, almost exposing some of Kara’s favorite sculpted areas of skin. She knew all too well how Cat reacted to the graze of fingertips or a gentle bite there.

No. Not the time. Lillian. Alex. Chaos and destruction.

Kara forced herself to blink, to look away, but she caught Cat’s smug little smirk. “Yeah, she uh… released four combatants, so that’s it for now. She’s got more where they came from, though.”

“James, could you give us a moment?” Cat asked sweetly, crooking her finger for Kara to join her in a corner. But Kara was tired of semi-public conversations. On a day where she had failed her sister, and Cat had to save herself from greased lightning, Kara was determined to do one thing right. In a blur, she swept Cat up bridal style and whisked them both to the roof.

“Well, the view doesn’t exactly rival my balcony, but the privacy is nice,” Cat mused, content in Kara’s arms as the sun set over National City. Only after placing a gentle kiss on Kara’s lips did Cat right herself and move away.

“As much as I love a moment alone with you, I need to double down on getting to Alex. You should have heard Lillian, Cat. She’s one evil laugh away from her own cartoon franchise.”

“About that. We need to throw a wrench into Lillian’s plans.” Cat placed her hands on her hips, staring out at the horizon.

“You have a particular wrench in mind?” Kara suspected she wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Me.” Cat faced her, braced for a battle. “It’s time I told my story. What Cadmus did and tried to do to me. I’ll name and shame Lillian, and we can finally neutralize her.”

Kara stood frozen to the spot. “That’s a _terrible_ idea. On any number of levels,” she protested, earning a glare from Cat.

“I appreciate your protective spirit, but don’t try to lecture me on how the media works. It’s a weapon, when necessary, and I happen to be one of the deadliest in the game. I’m going live from the DEO. Tonight. No more secrets.” Cat swallowed as they stared one another down.

“Let’s start with how it’s your word against Lillian’s,” Kara continued. “You’ll come off like a lunatic on national TV. What about your reputation, Cat?”

“I don’t give a damn about my reputation,” Cat spat, tears gathering in her eyelashes. “Lillian murdered fifteen people today. Friends of yours. If I had called her out earlier, they’d still be alive. If I’d cared less for appearances, they’d still be alive. Winn wouldn’t be hurt. They’d have gone home to their families tonight, and Alex wouldn’t be in harm’s way.”

“Cat–”

“We can’t keep toiling in the dark. My secrets need to come out. So do the DEO’s. The truth is the only weapon we have to stop Lillian now.”

“J’onn isn’t going to let you report on classified sites and information.”

“He won’t have a choice.” Cat settled her hands on her hips again, unconsciously mimicking Alex’s usual stance. “I’ve looked at this every way I can think of, but the only protection we have is exposure.”

“There has to be another way,” Kara pleaded. “I know we have to stop Lillian from killing or hurting anyone else, but Cat, _she has Alex_.”

Cat’s shoulders slumped. “Darling, I know, but there’s a chance that by distracting Lillian we might even be helping her. What do you think Alex would say if she were here right now, kicking your ass?”

“Alex wouldn’t kick me. She’s broken her toes way too many times.” It sounded petulant, but Kara couldn’t bring herself to care in that moment.

“The point, Kara–”

“The point,” Kara snapped, “is that Lillian has a gun to Alex’s head and won’t hesitate to put a bullet in her, or Maggie, or Lucy if you make her angry. You’re right. The press is a powerful weapon – you taught me that. I’d prefer not to use it to get my sister killed.”

“If I could spare you that risk, I would,” Cat promised, but she had that determined set to her jaw, the one that said the course was set. “And I can’t guarantee it’ll work. But dammit, Kara. We have to try.”

Cat stormed back inside the building via the roof door, while Kara stood there until the sun gave up its hold on the day, letting the dark rush in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second and last part of the finale. We hope you’ve all enjoyed it and please, please, please let the artists and authors know what you think as you read. Your comments and tweets and asks have been the lifeblood of this virtual season. Keep it coming, and enjoy!


	3. Act I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tonight on Supergirl Virtual Season...

  
  


Okay, we wrote this scene really hoping that the artists could have some fun. Looks like @supergaysupercat did! Love on the art in the comments or hit the [Tumblr ask](http://supergaysupercat.tumblr.com/ask).


	4. Act II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously on Supergirl Virtual Season...

  
  


Can’t blame James and Winn for gaping as Cat rocks her DEO couture in this fantastic moment by @supergaysupercat! Please tell her you love it in the comments or in her [Tumblr ask! ](http://supergaysupercat.tumblr.com/ask)


	5. Act II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat stuns Kara with an unexpected request.
> 
> In a tight squeeze, Lucy and Vasquez share a moment.
> 
> And Maggie and Alex learn the unsettling truth about Cadmus and the DEO.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our editors have performed superheroic acts of their own to get this series ready for you all, so praise on them at will:  
>  catherinegrant ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/catherinegrant) | [tumblr](http://catherinegrant.tumblr.com/ask)), @spaceshipsarecool ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceshipsarecool) | [tumblr](http://spaceshipsarecool.tumblr.com/ask)), and @musetotheworld ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/musetotheworld) | [tumblr](http://musetotheworld.tumblr.com/ask))

“You weren’t kidding when you said this was going to suck.”

Lucy stared down the air shaft. A breeze, smelling sharpy of sand and dirt, stirred the ends of her hair as she studied the seven story drop into darkness.

“You could stay here, Director,” Susan said, offering Lucy a subtle way out as she secured the last of her gear and slipped on a pair of gloves. “After climbing around in the ducts at CatCo, this will be a cakewalk.”

Lucy eyed her dubiously. “It’s one thing to hunt for an overzealous kid. Quite another to plunge into the earth only to find a gun barrel or twenty pointed at you on the other end. I’ve got your back.”

“Never doubted it.” Susan stepped up beside her and peered in. “Tight.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Lucy lied. This was going to be uncomfortable as hell, but she and Susan were the only two agents who could fit. The choice between leaving her unit there and sending Susan off alone hadn’t been an easy one, but safety in numbers won out. “You certainly know how to take a girl on an interesting first date.”

Susan snorted, but a sudden clang from the blast doors had them scrambling quicker. Lucy didn’t want to be halfway down the airshaft when Cadmus got inside.

“Ready?” Susan asked.

“As I’ll ever be.”

“I’ll go first.” Susan eased through the narrow vent, attaching the belay to the rope they’d secured for their climb. She hesitated a moment, the only glimmer of nerves, before she clicked on her helmet flashlight and gave Lucy an encouraging smile. “See you on the other side.”

Before Lucy could say something quippy, Susan disappeared. She turned to the remaining agents. “When they get through, surrender. No need in anyone else dying today. Vasquez and I will do what we can to get everyone out, but if we can’t, we’ll ruin Cadmus’s day as much as possible. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” they all intoned.

With a deep breath, Lucy climbed into the vent. When she caught up with her father, she’d kick his ass for this.

***

Lillian strode into the lab with a heavily armed contingent on her heels. Her team leader had insisted on the extra protection, having had a run-in or two with Danvers and Sawyer over the last several months.

Maggie looked feral as she stepped in front of Alex. Her long hair was disheveled from her earlier tussle, and her dark eyes glittered dangerously. Lillian had nine inches on the detective, but she had to admit Sawyer was fairly intimidating. Even the smallest dog had teeth.

“Always guarding your friends, aren’t you, Detective? I admire that, really.”

Maggie tilted her head. “And what about your friends, Luthor? Or is that an enemy’s blood on your clothes?”

Startled, Lillian looked down, spying the smear of red glistening on her black t-shirt. She pursed her lips. “I’m afraid that’s my husband’s. Lucy got off a lucky shot or two,” she conceded. “One she will pay dearly for, I assure you.” Her prisoners exchanged a wordless glance.

“So how long have you been down here? Months? Years? Must have amused the hell out of you to pull one over on the DEO.”

Lillian smiled thinly as the detective fished for intel. “That was a nice bonus to our arrangement.” She considered what to share and decided it hardly mattered. Sawyer would never see the light of day again, and Alex was hers until she outlived her usefulness.

“A year, if you must know.” She glanced at Alex. “We stepped up our efforts the night your sister dropped your plane in the bay. One Super was bad enough. Two was unacceptable.”

Alex bristled, but Lillian ignored her.

“Sam knew about the bunker. It was built back in the fifties. Used for Cadmus’s original work for more than a decade before budget cuts forced it to shutter. Perhaps if it had remained open, these measures wouldn’t have been necessary.”

“Why build the DEO on top of it?” Maggie pressed. It was a shame she hadn’t worked out. Lillian did admire talent and pluck.

“Why not? The bunker could be used as an additional shelter or containment if required.”

“Then why didn’t we know it was here?” Alex demanded.

“It was on a need to know basis. None of you needed to know.”

“You’ve been monitoring them all this time,” Maggie said. “Plugged into every move they make. No wonder you stayed a step ahead for so long.”

“Actually, you’re wrong there, Detective.”

Maggie hiked an eyebrow as Lillian wandered around her lab, studying the formulas on the walls.

“The DEO religiously monitors communications. The slightest hack and we would have been detected. Honestly, we weren’t interested in the agents. We were interested in their prisoners.” Lillian turned back, savoring their bewilderment. “You lock them up and move on, don’t you, Alex? Don’t give them a passing thought once that cell door closes.”

Indicted by the truth or just stubborn to the last, Alex didn’t bother to defend herself.

“You barely guard them. Enough to make sure no one escapes, of course, but your attention is always on the next arrest. You made it so easy for us to come and go. To get what we needed.”

“Jeremiah’s experiments,” Maggie realized with dawning horror. “You’ve been _cataloging_ all the aliens in containment to make your damn virus.”

Alex surged toward Lillian, but Maggie pivoted and caught her, holding her back.

Lillian flicked her wrist at her men to lower their weapons. “Don’t blame Agent Danvers for her outburst, boys. Poor Alex just realized she’s been supplying me with nearly everything I needed to wipe out alien life on Earth for months now. In a way, you’ve been working with your father all this time. That must chafe.”

“Babe,” Maggie cautioned. “Alex, _don’t_.”

Alex relented, but her gaze was murderous.

“Why?” Maggie snarled as she glared at Lillian over her shoulder. “Why make me deliver those aliens to you if you were just taking them from here?”

“Some of my experiments were more… thorough… than blood draws and skin samples, Detective. The DEO might not mind their prisoners very well, but they’d notice if one turned up dissected and dead.”

Maggie flinched, and Lillian wondered if she’d convinced herself those aliens were all still alive somewhere. Pathetic.

“I’ll be back in a few hours. If I’m not satisfied with your efforts, Sawyer will pay for your lack of progress. Are we clear?” Perhaps she couldn’t kill Sawyer for her transgressions against Cadmus just yet, but it was high time she suffered some for them.

She didn’t wait for an answer, turning smartly and leaving the pair alone.

***

Standing at the edge of the parking lot, Kara tuned out the persistent rumble of the CatCo satellite trucks. Arms crossed, cape flapping gently in the breeze, she stared through the buildings separating her from the desert. Alex was trapped out there, and Kara was powerless to save her.

She hadn’t called Jeremiah and Eliza. Kara had told herself she didn’t want to worry them, and that was true, but she was also ashamed. Bad enough she couldn’t be there for Alex, but she was letting the Danvers down too. She hadn’t felt this helpless since climbing into her pod on Krypton.

“The whole point of storming off was for you to come after me, you know.” Cat was pretty sneaky for someone wearing work boots for maybe the first time in her entire life. “I know this isn’t easy on you. I don’t want to make it worse.”

Kara tried to formulate a response, but in the end it was easier to turn and pull Cat into a much-needed hug.

“What if she doesn’t get out?” Her voice broke against Cat’s shoulder. Safe in the embrace, Kara let herself cry for a minute. “I’m not there when she needs me the most.”

“Look at me.” Cat pulled back until their eyes met. “Do you trust me?”

Kara took a deep breath and realized she absolutely did. The only other person she’d trusted so deeply, so down to her very marrow, was Alex. “Yes.”

“If J’onn and the agents find a way past the kryptonite, then of course you should fly off to save the day. I would never stand in the way of that. In the meantime, do the broadcast with me. Interview me.”

“Interview you? But what about Snapper? Or James? They both have way more experience.”

“Despite my insistence that it’s the right and noble thing to do,” Cat told her, brushing her fingertips over Kara’s cheekbone as though committing the angle to memory, “I find myself unusually, well, terrified. Having you there, knowing I can trust you to ask the right things, that you already believe me… would be saving me, in its own way.”

“The world is never going to know how much goes into being Cat Grant, is it?”

“Not any more than they’ll know the true cost of being Supergirl, no,” Cat empathized. “Will you do this with me? I know, I know, there’s the ethical question in regards to us being together, but we can work around that. When people see how good you are, they won’t be talking about nepotism, either.”

“Okay,” Kara agreed, and for the first time since returning to the center, she felt a renewed sense of purpose, blossoming and expanding inside her.

“You wanted to talk?” J’onn strolled up behind them, greeting Cat with a brisk handshake. “We need to make it quick. I’ve got agents working to figure out a way into the desert base, assuming Lucy and company don’t storm their way out first.”

The thought brought a faint smile to Kara’s lips. “Any luck?”

“Not yet. We’ll think of something, though.” J’onn laid a hand on Kara’s shoulder. “We’re trying to figure out how they got in. Maybe we can use the same door.”

“We won’t keep you for long,” Cat promised. “No doubt Lillian still plans to ruin more of our day before it’s done. We wanted you to know about a broadcast we’re doing tonight from my old TV station.”

Kara blinked, confused. Cat had told her she wanted to televise from the DEO. Had the plan changed?

“Broadcast? About what?” J’onn crossed his arms and waited.

“Cat wants to tell the public about her abduction. She’s going to name names,” Kara explained.

“If your intention is to provoke Luthor into reacting, I have no doubt that will work, but what if she takes it out on our agents? Or Alex?”

“Kara is glossing over the details, I’m afraid. I’m not just going public with my secrets. I’m also spilling yours.” Cat straightened, unintimidated as J’onn shifted, anger radiating off his tense form. “I’m exposing the DEO. Making the city aware of not only your existence but your purpose.”

“Cat–” J’onn growled.

“Listen to me. We’re in this mess because we’re all floundering around in the dark. Cadmus have used that to their advantage, and we need to take that advantage away. Not to mention, you’ll have a hell of a lot more luck with the alien population trusting you if you’re _honest_ with them.”

J’onn turned his attention to Kara. “You agree?”

Kara shrugged. “Not with all of it,” she admitted, “but Cat’s right. The DEO’s reputation is almost as bad as Cadmus’s with aliens. You’ve worked in secret because most of the population didn’t know there were aliens other than my cousin on this planet. That’s changed in recent months, J’onn. The protests opened a lot of eyes. Aliens are coming out of the shadows. Shouldn’t we?”

He heaved a weary sigh. “You two would dump this on me today of all days.”

“What better time to do it?” Cat asked. “This way, everyone gets to honor those lives Lillian took this morning. Your agents don’t get obituaries full of lies and cover stories. They get to be treated as the heroes they were, not just an anonymous plaque somewhere.”

“Don’t you think the president will have something to say about all this?”

“I think the woman who proposed the Alien Amnesty Act is going to be fine with more transparency. I can say that with some authority, since we we’ve been friends since Radcliffe.” Cat gave him a cheeky smile, and J’onn scowled. “But by all means, if you want to play that off against her little crush on you, Director… well, be my guest.”

“Reporters,” J’onn spat before walking away. Kara knew when his grouchy act was for show, and she suppressed a grin.

“That went well,” Cat murmured, before James emerged from one of the satellite trucks.

“I’m sorry, Cat. You were right. I watched on the closed circuit. Adam was eavesdropping the whole time. He ran off as soon as J’onn left.”

Cat rubbed her temples. “Well that confirms it. He must be off to blab to Lillian. Have we made sure no one is at the station?”

He nodded. Kara shifted her weight from one foot to the other before speaking up.

“That’s why you told J’onn we were going to the TV station instead of the DEO. You were trying to catch Adam?”

“Yes,” Cat confessed with a sigh. “I’ll clear it with J’onn now to use his site. As for Adam, we’ll keep him close, and most importantly safe from _her_. Lillian thought she could use my son against me? Let’s see how she likes it when he’s used against her.”

***

Adam retreated to an empty office as soon as he could sneak away. Being around all these aliens made his skin crawl. They were a plague, and he couldn’t believe Cat fraternized with them so casually.

Figures her girlfriend was one, too. Adam clenched his fists, cursing himself for not making the connection. Clearly her relationship with Supergirl was to blame for the nonsense Cat was spouting earlier. That Kryptonian had warped his mother somehow, convinced her Lillian was the enemy to protect herself and her cousin. To think someone who could kill them all with a flick of her fingers had been hiding inside Kara Danvers all this time. Had Cat known that when she pushed them together? Adam shook his head at the lucky escape.

Something had to be done to take back their planet. Maybe then he could save Cat from their influence, get her away from Kara – Supergirl – once and for all.

Jabbing his thumb on Lillian’s name under his recent calls, he waited impatiently for her to pick up. She answered on the sixth ring.

“Adam,” Lillian drawled. “I trust this is an important update? I’m a bit busy right now.”

Heaven forbid she be happy to hear from him, Adam thought sourly. “Cat’s clearing time during programming tonight. She’s going live.”

“With what?”

“She has this crazy story that you kidnapped and tried to brainwash her. She says she’s going to tell the world about it.”

Lillian was oddly quiet, but Adam could hear her breathing, fast and shallow.

“Are you there?”

“Yes, darling. Well, I warned you that she was a bit unstable. Did she say where this broadcast was taking place? I understand CatCo is mostly offline.”

“Her old TV station. Does that help?”

“It does indeed. You did well,” she told him, and Adam felt a burst of shy pleasure at the crumb of praise.

“One other thing,” he added. “What’s the DEO? She said something about exposing them as well.”

Another awkward silence followed.

“I’ll handle Cat and her little broadcast tonight,” Lillian said, her voice taking on that mechanical, Stepford tone like it did during Lex’s trial. “But Adam, that broadcast cannot see the light of day. If something happens and I can’t stop it, I expect you to do whatever it takes. Understood?”

“Of course.”

“That’s a good boy.”

***

“Two more floors,” Susan said quietly, sliding down another few feet. The shaft was too narrow for an easy, rapid descent, and the faster they moved, the more noise they made.

Lucy was sweating freely now. Somewhere between level four and five, she’d stopped obsessing over the tight squeeze and started worrying about what awaited them below.

“So this is your idea of a first date, huh?”

Lucy looked down only to bang her helmet lightly against the front of the duct. She winced more in embarrassment than pain. “That was sarcasm, Susan. Why are you asking?”

“Maybe I’m looking for suggestions, and I’d like to think about something other than how tight it is in here…”

Lucy’s pulse ticked up. “Got a girl you’re trying to impress?”

“Working on it,” Susan said cautiously. “The situation is complicated, though.”

“What’s the problem?”

“I’m getting mixed signals.”

“Mixed signals?”

“Well… this woman… she uh… likes to flirt. A lot.”

“That’s usually a pretty good signal, Susan,” Lucy teased.

Susan snorted, and Lucy wished she could see the expression that went with it. “Usually, but… she just got out of a serious relationship a few months ago. With… uh…”

Lucy’s breath caught. “A guy?” Susan made a soft sound in the affirmative. “Is that a deal breaker?”

“Only if she exclusively dates men.”

“So… you’d be fine if she were bisexual?” Lucy asked, testing the waters.

“Are we really having this conversation in an air shaft while our workplace is overrun with enemy agents?”

“You started it,” Lucy pointed out. “Can we stop pretending we aren’t talking about each other?”

In the silence that followed, Susan swallowed audibly. “Are you, then? Into only men?”

“No. Before James there was Gillian, actually.” Lucy licked her lips. “Um… you know, I was going to ask you–” A shout from above cut her off. “Shit. Go. Go!”

Stealth went out the window as they let go and plunged, ropes zipping through their carabiners. Susan’s boots struck metal as she landed and disconnected.

A gunshot went off overhead, the muzzle flash lighting up the shaft. Lucy turned her head, waiting for a bullet to tear through something vital. It ricocheted instead, bouncing around before plinking hot but harmless off her hand.

Susan grabbed her, dragging her into an alcove just as the ropes severed. Lucy dropped onto her back with a grunt as Susan ripped off her helmet and searched Lucy for injuries.

“Are you hit?”

Maybe it was elation that they weren’t dead yet, or fear they might be soon, but Lucy grabbed Susan’s vest and tugged her down for a _thank god we made it_ kiss.

Susan gaped when Lucy shoved her off and scrambled to her feet, unclipping her own ropes.

“We’ll follow up on that later,” Lucy promised, drawing her sidearm and shouldering the vent open.

“Yes, ma’am.”

***

The world wasn’t quite so amusing when the drugs wore off. Winn frowned at his laptop, seeing nothing. J’onn had asked him to study the blueprints for the desert base, to figure out how Cadmus had gotten in. But as his pain returned, so did clarity. Winn cared for neither.

He’d messed up. Missed something. Now good people were dead and friends were in Lillian’s clutches. He could still remember Alex’s warmth as she’d hugged him that morning. Her teasing smile. She’d become like a sister to him and he’d let her down. He’d let everyone down. How could Kara even look at him right now?

“You okay?” James asked, joining him at one of the tables in the cafeteria.

Alien families came and went. A group of Phorian children chatted happily in their native tongue in the back corner. A Havanian snacked on earthworms as he watched HGTV with a group of DEO agents who were gulping down a fast, early dinner. Winn was oblivious to how surreal the moment was.

“I thought I was so badass,” he muttered. “Some big shot agent I turned out to be, huh?”

James pulled out a folding chair and straddled it beside him. “Winn, none of this is your fault. When I saw the damage on the news, I was scared to death I’d lost my best friend.”

“But I missed the bomb. People died because of me. My guards. Jameson in operations… I owed him ten bucks. I was thinking of asking Aquino in medical out. She loves anime almost as much as I do.” His heart sank. “Loved,” he corrected.

“Dude, you’re hurt and you’re drugged. You should go lie down.”

“Did you not hear me, James? People are dead because _I_ screwed up. I don’t want to lie down. I want to fix this and I can’t… I _can’t_.” Mortified to feel the burn of tears, Winn tried to wipe them away only to be reminded his left arm was useless. In a fit of anger, he swiped his laptop off the table. The screen shattered on the floor, startling everyone in the room.

“Feel better?”

“No,” Winn groused petulantly. “And J’onn’s totally gonna take that out of my paycheck.”

James pursed his lips. “Winn, if there was a way for you to detect that bomb, you would have. There’s not a doubt in my mind. This is _Cadmus_. They’ve got toys we don’t. All those alien abilities they’ve stolen–”

“We’ve got aliens too,” Winn fired back. “We’re surrounded by aliens.” He gestured wildly with his right hand, nearly unbalancing himself and toppling over. M’gann stepped into the room, giving them a tight smile. “Why aren’t we teaming up with them? Why not level the playing field? Why do Kara and J’onn have to do all the superpowered stuff?”

“Maybe they don’t. Right, M’gann?” James said, looking directly at her. She gave a cryptic half-smile and continued to talk with the Havanian.

Winn stared, knowing he was missing something. “Huh?”

“Come on, man. Let’s get you to a real bed.”

***

Cat paced the small office she’d effectively taken over. Officially it was M’gann’s, but as director of the center she didn’t have time to sit behind a desk. 

It wasn’t long, predictably, before Kara came knocking.

“He called her,” she confirmed. “And he knows Kara Danvers and Supergirl are the same person. Shame he inherited your powers of observation, because he picked up on you exposing the DEO too.”

Cat tried to pretend the news wasn’t a dagger to the chest. “Who needs wiretaps when they have a superhearing alien, hmm? You’re a walking Fourth Amendment violation, and I love you anyway.”

“It can’t be easy, knowing your own son is working with the woman who almost killed you.”

“He needs help.” There. Admitting it was the first step. “One way or another, whether just the steady drip of bad influence, or a more potent dose of Mercy, Lillian has done this to him. I have to believe it can be undone. But for now, we keep him close. Maybe he’ll show us what else Lillian is up to.”

“Thank god she never came after Carter,” Kara said, coming dangerously close to the truth about Cat’s relationships with her sons. “I mean, I was mad enough about what she did to you. The thought of anyone trying to mess with him, I just…”

Cat’s stomach did the most sickening little somersault at the thought. It had been such a relief that night, knowing he was safe and not in the car with her when those thugs descended. In her occasional nightmares of the kidnapping, she’d imagined Carter with her, watching him be strapped in that chair and forced to turn against her instead of Supergirl. A cold sweat prickled at the base of Cat’s scalp.

“We’re not talking about hypotheticals,” Cat said, changing the topic, though it pleased her that Kara’s fierce love and protectiveness extended to Carter without ever having to be asked. She’d make one hell of a stepmother, if they ever got that far. “In the meantime, let’s see if we can salvage anything from my son’s betrayal.”

“About that,” Kara replied, worrying at her bottom lip for a moment. “I think I have an idea.”

***

Alex flexed the fingers on her bruised right hand, fighting off a faint tremble. Not since Kara had pushed Fort Rozz into space had she been this singularly focused on a solution. Adrenaline had pulsed through her system for hours now, fueling an agitated buzz in the center of her chest.

Her father’s handwriting was cold comfort at least. As she parsed out his formulas, his presence was so strong in the room she could almost smell his aftershave.

With little to do, Maggie paced. She’d torn the lab apart earlier, trying to find something they could use as a weapon or to escape, but she’d come up empty. They’d discovered video surveillance, but no audio. Lillian was fine with her agents watching her work, but listening was off limits, apparently. To be sure, they’d tossed around a phrase or two that should have sent Lillian running back, but so far they’d been left alone.

Thankfully, Maggie had scrounged up some old aspirin from a medicine cabinet. Alex’s headache had backed off to a dull throb.

“You okay?”

It was the first words Maggie had spoken in over an hour. Alex didn’t answer. She didn’t know what to say, let alone feel.

“Look. I know what it’s like to be used to hurt other people. What Lillian said… about the prisoners…”

The evidence was everywhere. On the tablet. On the walls. The DNA from over six hundred aliens had been extrapolated to make the virus as lethal to as many species as possible. “She was right,” Alex murmured.

“You didn’t hand over those prisoners to Cadmus, Alex. They were taken and experimented on against their will.”

“And you and I both know if I’d done my job better – if I’d worried about our prisoners’ care and comfort – that wouldn’t have happened. We treated them just like Cadmus. As something less than.”

“That wasn’t your job and you treated them _nothing_ like Cadmus,” Maggie swore. “Mistakes were made, but they weren’t lab rats to you. You never cut them open to see what makes them tick and then stole their abilities for your own gain.”

Maggie’s words soothed the ragged edges of Alex’s guilt a little. “Did they have a guard on the payroll? Or did they just dress the part and nobody gave them a second look?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure Sam Lane learned your procedures. The schedules of the guards. With basic intel and a camera trick or two, they could have come and gone easily. Much as I hate to admit it, the whole secret bunker under the floor thing really worked in their favor.”

“I thought I knew what you’d been through, what she’d put Dad through. I had no idea.”

“Not something I ever wanted you to know.” Maggie started pacing again.

Alex set the tablet down, sliding off the stool to intercept Maggie on her next pass. “Come here,” she said, tugging her into her arms.

Maggie clutched the back of Alex’s shirt as she burrowed closer, and Alex realized she wasn’t the only one trembling. “I’m sorry about earlier. For getting mad.” Her voice was muffled against Alex’s shoulder. “You’re just trying to save my life, and I’m acting like an ungrateful ass.”

“You really are,” Alex teased weakly, and Maggie scoffed.

“I’m just…” When Maggie looked up, her eyes were glistening. “I’m not used to mattering to many people.”

Alex couldn’t fathom how that was possible. “You matter to me,” she promised. “More than you know.”

Maggie reluctantly stepped back. “You… um… you figure any of it out yet? The virus?”

“It’s as genius as it is cruel. But they’re stuck on a few factors, including a method for mass dissemination. Right now, it won’t hold together long via liquid or aerosolized form.”

“So we’ve got some time?”

Alex shrugged. “The virus is insanely complicated and Lillian knows it. They’ve been working on it for months with incremental progress, until they hit a wall a few weeks ago. Lillian can’t get the numbers to work.”

Maggie shook her head. “No surprise there.”

“What do you mean?”

“As long as I’ve known him, your dad has been undermining Cadmus. He’d gotten damn good at it by the time we met. Taught me the ropes.”

Alex stared at the formulas, reviewing them with fresh eyes. “He’d find a way to slow Lillian down,” she agreed. “He’d keep it consistent, though. Something he’d remember and could adjust for in case he blundered into a–”

An idea came to her and she scooped up the tablet, entering a few adjusted numbers into one of the equations. It worked. “Oh Dad,” she whispered.

“What’s wrong? You just went white as a sheet.”

“Everything is off by the same few decimal points. He was using…” Alex blinked away tears. Her father had been trapped in this hell, but he’d never stopped thinking about her. Never stopped loving her. “He was using my birthday.”

“You can make it work now, can’t you?”

“God help me, I think I can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second and last part of the finale. We hope you’ve all enjoyed it and please, please, please let the artists and authors know what you think as you read. Your comments and tweets and asks have been the lifeblood of this virtual season. Keep it coming, and enjoy!


	6. Act II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously on Supergirl Virtual Season!

  
  


Lucy looks for a way out while Vasquez just looks at Lucy (not that we blame her). Big kudos to @pinkrabbitpro for bringing the moment to life! Show appreciation for her hard work in the comments or in her Tumblr ask!

## And what’s Lucy and Vasquez’s ship name, anyway???


	7. Act III

  
  


This week's battles brought to life by @ofpensandcupcakes. Praise it up in the comments, or hit the tumblr ask


	8. Act III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a little help, Cat confronts Adam about Lillian.
> 
> Maggie has something important to say to Alex before it’s too late.
> 
> M’gann’s proposal to J’onn could change the game.
> 
> And Kara struggles to do the right thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our editors have performed superheroic acts of their own to get this series ready for you all, so praise on them at will:  
>  catherinegrant ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/catherinegrant) | [tumblr](http://catherinegrant.tumblr.com/ask)), @spaceshipsarecool ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceshipsarecool) | [tumblr](http://spaceshipsarecool.tumblr.com/ask)), and @musetotheworld ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/musetotheworld) | [tumblr](http://musetotheworld.tumblr.com/ask))

“Son-of-a-bitch.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth.” Lucy glanced at the closed hatch above them. Cadmus had been arrogant leaving it so poorly defended. She’d make them regret that mistake.

Susan swapped out her clip. She’d dropped all three of the mercenaries they’d encountered before Lucy even got a shot off. It had been more than a little impressive to watch.

“What are you thinking, ma’am?” Susan asked.

“Back to the ma’am already?”

“I thought it might help focus, given the situation.”

“Let’s set about leveling the playing field for the first time all freaking day. They want the DEO so badly? They can stay in it. Buys us some time to find out what the hell they’re doing down here.”

“If we had a couple of car batteries I could maybe weld it shut.” Susan glanced around the empty corridor. “Let’s lock it and disable the mechanism. We’ll have to find another way out.”

“There has to be one,” Lucy said, as much to convince herself as Susan. “But we pretty much committed to this when we went down the world’s worst slip ‘n’ slide. What can I do?”

Susan pulled a small crowbar from the long pocket on her cargo pants. “Keep watch. Won’t take me long to fuck it up.”

In a matter of minutes, the locking mechanism was damaged beyond repair. Lucy led them silently down the hall to explore the facility further. They’d scanned for cameras, but none were immediately visible.

Lucy tried the closest door. Locked. She crossed the hall and tried another. “Dad must have gotten a kick out of being under my nose all this time,” she grumbled, careful to keep her voice low.

“Think they can they access our security feeds? Our intel?” Susan advanced forward, her handgun an extension of her arm as Lucy covered her six.

“You and Winn are too good. You’d have caught them.”

Susan colored at the praise, but she didn’t disagree.

“And they would have known Maggie was working with us. The fact she’s still alive tells me they kept their access more mechanical than digital.”

“Assuming she’s alive after today’s assault anyway,” Susan said, sighing.

“Maggie and Alex are scrappy. Don’t count them out yet.” They came to the end of the hall only to find another, with the choice to go left or right.

“Do we split up?” Susan asked. “Cover ground faster?”

Lucy took a deep breath, wincing as the stale air tickled her nose and throat. It was probably the prudent option, but her instincts were screaming at her to stay together. She shook her head and jerked her chin toward the right.

“Where in the hell is everybody?” Susan said after another five minutes of trying doors, not a soul in sight.

“The lights are on. Someone’s got to be home.”

“I always thought when we found Cadmus, their real base of operations anyway, that it would be like… You ever see that terracotta army exhibit? All of them laid out in rows, waiting.”

“But if this is how empty this place is, maybe Cadmus really are just a bunch of punks with big resources. That might be the best break we’ve had yet. The fact that we’re not overrun with Lillian’s goons right now suggests she only has so many, and they’re needed elsewhere.”

“I still wouldn’t rule out a nasty surprise or two up Luthor’s sleeve. I know I don’t get to face off with these people as often as someone like you or Alex, but you learn a lot standing back and waiting for a signal. Even if we get out of here now, I don’t think it’s over by a long shot.”

“Always planning ahead, Agent Vasquez. What do you say we make a run for it, and shoot our way out if we have to? Rattle their cages as we go, see what we find?”

Susan’s answer was to unholster her second weapon. Game on.

***

The quiet knock sent Adam’s pulse skyrocketing. He’d hunkered down in the small office, trying to avoid aliens and his mother, for almost an hour now. Cold skittered over his brain and slipped down the back of his throat, eliciting a shiver. Bracing himself, he opened the door.

“Adam.”

“What are you doing here?” he hissed, grabbing Lillian’s wrist and yanking her inside. “How did you even find me?”

“Haven’t you learned by now that I have my ways? Besides, I wanted to see this quaint little center for myself. I’ve heard so much about it, after all.”

“If Cat sees you… Or an agent… Or one of the aliens…”

“No one is going to see me unless I want to be seen. That must make you special, hmm?” Lillian plucked a piece of lint from his collar, and Adam wanted to slap her hand away.

“I thought you were going to stop Cat’s broadcast. I didn’t think I’d see you until at least tomorrow.”

“Oh, I’ll put a stop to it. Rest assured. But are you sure you want me to? Maybe you’d like to hear Cat’s tale of woe in full. All the diabolical things I supposedly did to her.”

“Don’t… don’t make fun of her,” he pleaded, turning away. He stuffed his hands in his pockets as he went to the window. “She’s obviously sick and needs help. Once these aliens are gone, I’ll find her a good doctor. Get her into treatment somewhere.”

“You’ve been spying on your mother for me, Adam. You helped Donovan in his siege on CatCo. You told me about her broadcast tonight. Why the concern now? Second thoughts?”

“I did those things because you promised me they were for her protection, that she was being controlled. Cat even thinks…”

“She thinks what? That I brainwashed you too, somehow?”

“Did you?” Adam asked, strange memories flickering through his mind of a terrifying chair and a glass tank. He shook his head. “I remember a glass wall, with pictures.”

Lillian drifted closer, and he shifted to face her, never comfortable when she was at his back.

“When this is all over,” she said, her features unexpectedly softening, “I can help you when you’re ready. What she did to you can be undone with time and effort.”

“Did to me? Who? What are you talking–” Adam recoiled as Lillian transformed before his eyes, morphing into a strange woman who gazed at him in pity.

“I’m sorry, Adam. We had to know for sure.” She turned away, crossing to the door and opening it. Cat was on the other side, her gaze on the floor and her mouth pressed in a tight line.

“Thank you, M’gann.”

M’gann put her hand on Cat’s shoulder. “She used Mercy, Cat.”

“I know,” Cat said quietly. M’gann lingered protectively as Cat stepped inside.

“You tricked me,” Adam snarled.

“Now we’re even, I suppose,” Cat said, her voice raspy and her eyes hooded as she handed him a tablet.

Adam glanced down at the screen to see video of a building in flames. “What is this?”

“My TV station, or what’s left of it. Cadmus firebombed it five minutes ago. Good thing I kept up on the insurance payments, and that we never planned on broadcasting from there, hmm?”

He looked up at her in shock. “No. She wouldn’t…”

“I know you remember, Adam. Probably just flickers for now. The chair. The tank. The mist on your skin. It’s all real. Lillian got in your head. Twisted up who you are. What you believe.”

“Lillian wouldn’t hurt me. Not like you. Not like you always do!”

Cat’s jaw tightened, but her voice remained frustratingly calm and even. “I have an interview to do. You should watch it and decide for yourself what the truth really is.” She drew him into her arms and squeezed so hard it almost hurt. He was torn between wanting to hug her back and shoving her away.

“I do love you,” Cat whispered fiercely. “If you must doubt everything else, please don’t ever doubt that.”

Without another word, she left him there, alone once more.

***

“Negative, there’s no one here,” her team leader confirmed, and Lillian almost put her phone through the nearest wall. Times like these she wished she’d experimented with transferring some alien strength to her own limited, human abilities. How satisfying it would be to choke Supergirl one-handed, without the need for weakening her with kryptonite.

“There’s supposed to be a broadcast.” Seething, she drew a small remote from her pocket.

“We blew the building like you asked, but someone tipped off the cops. They’re almost here. What are your orders?”

Another team blown. More men compromised. Lillian entered a command into the remote and pressed the button. Scrambling her mercenaries’ pathetically small brains was crude, but she couldn’t afford to have anyone talk.

“Just one,” she said. “Die.” The first agonized screams reached her and she ended the call. Slipping the remote back into her pocket, she moved onto more pressing matters.

“You think you’re so clever, don’t you, Kitty? Let’s see how smart you are when I target the things you really care about.” She dialed Adam.

If he weren’t surrounded by her enemies, she would have gone down there and yanked him out by his ear. He’d cost her time and a team, and she was quickly running out of both.

“They weren’t there,” she barked when he picked up.

“When you said you wanted to stop the broadcast, I thought you were talking about cutting a few wires. What the hell, Lillian?”

Shaky, childish in his questioning. Just like Lena with her constant whining _Why Lex? Why not me?_ His tone settled in Lillian’s skull like the opening salvo of a migraine.

“Wherever they really are, you’d better stop it,” she ordered. “At the very least, keep her off the air and get me within striking distance.”

“No, I can’t.”

Oh, this defiance would not do at all. “Can’t is no longer an option, Adam Foster. It’s time to grow the hell up, and do what we committed to doing.”

“I’m saying they’re onto me. Was that part of your plan? I don’t remember. But that station was a setup. She used me.”

“And what does that change?” Good god, the incompetence. Had she really considered this boy a suitable successor to Lex? “You still have access to your phone. Cat clearly doesn’t take you seriously. Get it done, Adam. _‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said. ‘To talk of many things.’_ ”

This time it would work. She’d had longer with him, and had learned from her mistakes with Cat. Taking Jeremiah out of the equation had made Mercy so much more potent again.

“Understood,” came Adam’s reply. “There won’t be a broadcast tonight.”

“That’s my boy,” she told him, the words ringing hollow even to her own ears. “Don’t let me down.”

With that matter attended to, she checked the surveillance feed to see Danvers working in the lab, engrossed in her tablet. Science always spoke to women like her, far beyond any cause or rhetoric. Alex wouldn’t be able to resist the spark of brilliance needed to complete the puzzle. That much Lillian was counting on.

***

“She’ll be back soon.”

Sitting on the counter, her legs aching from hours of pacing, Maggie nodded. She’d been hyper aware of each passing minute since Lillian had left, surprised she hadn’t breezed back in already. Probably drawing out the suspense for kicks.

“My mom always said I was too smart for my own good. Never thought she was right until now.” Alex turned off the tablet and set it down next to Maggie’s hip.

“Lillian wanted you for a reason, Alex. You’re brilliant. Of course you were going to figure it out.”

“Yay me.” Alex stepped between Maggie’s legs, bracing her hands on her thighs. “Listen…”

“I know. One thing to stall when you don’t have the answers, but now… If Lillian realizes you can make the virus, she’ll use more direct methods to get what she wants.”

“Yeah,” Alex said, resting their foreheads together.

“Ride or die time again? This is getting to be a habit.”

“When Lillian comes, we make a break for it. The DEO needs to know about the virus.”

“Then they’ll drop a bunker buster on us and that’ll be it, huh? Assuming Lillian’s men don’t mow us down before we get out the door.”

“I don’t know, Sawyer. I’d like to think if there’s a chance, you and me will find it. We’ve been pretty good at beating the odds so far.”

“Either way, Lillian doesn’t get what she wants.” It wasn’t the happy ending Maggie liked to daydream about, but if they stopped Luthor, it would do.

“Either way,” Alex agreed.

“What you said earlier, about me mattering…” Maggie licked her lips and met Alex’s gaze. “You matter to me too, Danvers. You matter more than anyone ever has.”

“Maggie…”

“Maybe it’s too soon to say it. Hell, maybe it’s too late. I just… I love you.”

Alex cupped Maggie’s face between her palms. “I love you too,” she said, and Maggie’s heart soared. “But I’m not telling you that because I think we’re going to die. I’m telling you because I want us to live.”

“Yeah?”

“Hell yeah.” Alex kissed her, possibly for the last time. It was enough, despite their terrible odds, to give Maggie hope.

***

“Christ,” Cat said, going rigid with shock as they landed. They’d barely touched the ground before she was out of Kara’s arms, marching straight into the danger and debris. “How was it only fifteen? This is… it’s a wreck, Kara.”

“Yeah.” Kara wrapped her arms around herself. Another part of her world chipped away. More destruction, more bodies. Would this always be her life? Could she ever escape this kind of loss?

“I’m so sorry,” Cat choked out, reaching for Kara’s hand. “I thought I knew what to expect, but oh, sweetheart. This is so much to ask of you. And here we are, asking even more.”

“I should get changed,” Kara tried to deflect, her voice thick with unshed tears. “I know Snapper is aware now, but I’d like to deal with him as Kara as much as possible. If I can’t be Supergirl for Alex right now, I don’t want to wear the cape for anyone.”

“Whatever you think best,” Cat assured her, but instead of moving off, Kara pulled Cat in close. There was so much comfort in the smell of her delicate perfume, the strength of her grip on Kara’s back. Cat’s heartbeat regulated Kara’s own, giving them a rare moment of calm.

As always, it was shattered. This time not by marauding aliens or Lillian’s weaponry, but by the unimpressed arrival of one Snapper Carr.

“This has _got_ to be some kind of OSHA violation,” he announced with his usual disdain. The hint of a smile as he chewed his trademark gum betrayed his true feelings. He was clearly enjoying being in the field.

“Anyone would think you’re an experienced professional, Mr. Carr,” Cat mocked gently.

He shrugged. “Olsen’s directing from the satellite truck. I’ll be your floor manager.” He looked around, hunting for the best location to set up.

Cat steered Kara towards a safer bit of the floor. “Go change,” she urged quietly. “We need to be ready.”

“But we’ll give Alex as long as we can, right? I mean, right up until 9:14 if we have to?”

“Of course. We’re not trailing it, we’re just going to break into scheduled programming. But Kara–”

“Don’t say it, please.”

“When go time comes, the story still has to run. Even if we haven’t heard from Alex. I’m sorry, but it’s a risk she would want us to take. Lillian has to be stopped.”

“Cat…” Kara was rocking slightly, and Cat rubbed a reassuring hand across her back.

“I’ll be right there with you, Kara. I know it’s a lot to ask, but she’ll be proud of you, when she finds out about all this.”

“I hope so.” Kara appreciated that Cat was still talking like Alex would come home safe. She whisked herself off to change, praying to Rao her sister would pull off the impossible.

***

“There’s worse still to come,” M’gann said, offering J’onn a mug of coffee spiked with a hint of Martian r’hum. He was sitting on an upturned crate outside the side entrance, having found a peaceful spot away from the organized chaos inside. “Luthor isn’t going to go quietly. How do we know she’ll stop at four?”

“We don’t,” he concurred.

“I have a proposal.” She sipped her own coffee, wondering if she should have brought some of her new allies to the discussion with her. “We have over a hundred residents already, and plenty of other aliens are sympathetic to the cause. Word is spreading that Cadmus are on the warpath. They want to help.”

“That’s not exactly a proposal yet,” J’onn nudged gently.

“Most are willing to fight. National City is their home now, and they want to defend it. We have all kinds of powers and capabilities. What we lack is firepower and military training, save for a few.”

“M’gann–”

“With Maggie, you saw a chance to bridge the divide between two forces that should have been joined. It stopped the police and DEO working at cross purposes, and shut down a cruel and illegal operation.”

“Are you accusing the DEO of being as corrupt as those police officers?” J’onn stood then, hands on his hips, coffee forgotten. “Need I remind you that amongst this group there are any number of outstanding warrants? How blind an eye do you expect me to turn, before I gouge it out altogether?”

M’gann drained her cup. “Well, that’s a little melodramatic.”

J’onn let out a deep sigh, the hint of a chuckle at its tail. “You’re really suggesting this?”

“At some point we’re going to have to consider going into the DEO and getting your agents back. The more organized we are, the more ground we can cover. It’s all about bodies, J’onn. I don’t need to tell you that.”

“So on the night when Cat Grant means to expose us to the world, we’re joining forces with a small army of alien vigilantes?”

“If that’s how you want to look at it. I prefer to think of it as help from one friend to another. A community coming together and making peace with the force that will police and protect it. Does that sound like something you could shake hands on, last son of Mars?”

A moment passed, and then another. M’gann’s shoulders drooped a little. She had hoped after all this, she might finally have earned his trust. Just as she turned to walk away, J’onn extended his hand. M’gann clasped it gratefully. It only occurred when he smiled at her, that they’d been holding on a little too long.

“Partners,” J’onn pronounced.

“Partners,” M’gann agreed.

***

Expecting another locked door, Susan nearly tumbled inside when it gave against her shoulder and groaned open. One look and she pivoted to block Lucy’s view. “Don’t go in there,” she blurted.

“Why?”

Bile rose at the back of Susan’s throat and she swallowed thickly. “Lucy…”

Lucy tensed. “Is it Alex? Maggie? Our agents?”

Susan shook her head. “It’s… it’s your dad.”

There were no words for the broken sound Lucy made. When she brushed past Susan, she knew better than to try and stop her again.

Sam Lane lay on a gurney, eyes open and unseeing. Susan had despised him from the start. Aggressive and ruthless, he’d always descend on the DEO like he owned the place. It wasn’t until he’d held Lucy during Myriad that Susan realized he was capable of loving someone. Too bad his hate and fear had been stronger.

Lucy trembled as her fingers brushed the sleeve of her father’s fatigues. She withdrew, settling her hands on the edge of the gurney.

“He picked his side. He knew it could come to this,” Lucy said quietly. “I wish it hadn’t, but I’d take the shot again if I had to.”

Susan drifted closer, studying the body. While gunshot wounds always came with the risk of complications, neither injury appeared fatal at first glance.

“You did what was right,” Susan told Lucy with conviction. “We both did.” She twitched slightly when Lucy dropped her hand and tangled their fingers. Tactically she should keep watch, but Susan remained, offering what comfort she could. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Lucy said, reluctantly letting go of Susan’s grasp to search her father’s pockets. She found his phone and slipped it out. “He has a signal. Apparently Cadmus has a better data plan.” She tried a code, unlocking it on the first try.

Susan’s attention settled on a surgical tray next to the general’s body. Grabbing a blue, latex glove out of the box, she picked up the discarded syringe and held it to the meager light.

“What?” Lucy asked in a hoarse voice.

“There’s nothing in it.” Susan drew back the plunger and shook the syringe to be sure. “It’s like someone injected him with–” She glanced at the general again in alarm.

Lucy took a sharp breath, squeezing the phone in her hand so tightly it creaked. She stepped to the head of the gurney. “I hated what you’d become, but I still loved you.” She gently closed his eyes and kissed him on the forehead. “Goodbye, Dad. I promise she’ll pay for this.” She backed away from him and turned to Susan, unshed tears and determination making her green eyes startlingly vivid. “Time to get the hell out of here.”

A distant scuff sounded in the hall. They inched back to the door, carefully peering around the corner. Two Cadmus agents had turned into the hall and were headed in the opposite direction.

“Maybe we should start by following them,” Susan suggested.

***

Kara’s steps were mechanical as she walked over to Snapper’s impromptu set. With the ruined stairs as Cat’s backdrop and the destroyed control room behind her, Kara perched nervously on the edge of her seat and clipped a wireless microphone to her blouse. Snapper had lit their space dramatically but tastefully. Three cameras were pointed at them, each somehow as imposing as a villain of the week.

Cat’s head was down as she sorted through her lines, and Kara let her gaze flicker over the destruction around them. She half expected to see her DEO colleagues bustling about. Winn at his computer. J’onn barking orders. Alex striding toward her, a teasing smile on her lips.

Snapper gave Kara a gruff pat on the shoulder as he walked past. He adjusted one of the cameras before slipping on a pair of headphones to take direction from James at the satellite truck.

Some reporters waited their whole lives to tell a story like this, but instead of excitement or nerves, all Kara felt was hollow.

“Five minutes,” Snapper told them.

As the seconds ticked by with no word from Alex, Kara began to accept the inevitable. They might stop Lillian tonight, but at what price? The hero in her, the one Alex believed in, knew it had to be paid. The girl who just wanted her sister to come home wasn’t so sure.

Cat looked up at Kara at last. “You can do this. We both can.”

Kara nodded, unconvinced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second and last part of the finale. We hope you’ve all enjoyed it and please, please, please let the artists and authors know what you think as you read. Your comments and tweets and asks have been the lifeblood of this virtual season. Keep it coming, and enjoy!


	9. Act III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonus Supercat art tonight!

  
  


Some tough conversations for Cat and Kara this ep. @pinkrabbitpro makes them all too real. Love in the comments, or the tumblr ask


	10. Act IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Previously on Supergirl Virtual Season...

  
  


A bunker, a kiss, a bit of brilliance from @supergaysupercat. Flock to the comments or hit the [tumblr ask](http://supergaysupercat.tumblr.com/ask). 


	11. Act IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MORE ART!

  
  


DID YOU THINK ONE FANTASTIC SMOOCH WAS ENOUGH

from @supergaysupercat. Flock to the comments or hit the [tumblr ask](http://supergaysupercat.tumblr.com/ask).


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Kara keeping her steady, Cat shares her Cadmus ordeal with the world.
> 
> Alex and Maggie make a break for it and get some unexpected help.
> 
> And as her plans begin to fall apart, Lillian crosses even more lines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our editors have performed superheroic acts of their own to get this series ready for you all, so praise on them at will:  
>  catherinegrant ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/catherinegrant) | [tumblr](http://catherinegrant.tumblr.com/ask)), @spaceshipsarecool ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceshipsarecool) | [tumblr](http://spaceshipsarecool.tumblr.com/ask)), and @musetotheworld ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/musetotheworld) | [tumblr](http://musetotheworld.tumblr.com/ask))

“She’ll be okay, right?”

“Kara?” Maggie guessed. “They don’t call her the Girl of Steel for nothing, do they?”

Alex ran her thumb over Maggie’s, their hands loosely linked as they waited side by side for the door to open, ready to take one last grasp at freedom or die trying.

She’d made a video not long after Myriad, just in case there was ever a mission she didn’t come back from. Kara was likely going to outlive her by decades, and Alex wanted her to have something to hold onto. A reminder that Alex loved her. That she was proud of her. Words she could hear again and again even if Alex was no longer there to say them in person.

“I know it’s crazy. She’s the strongest woman on the planet, but… we take care of each other. We always have.” Alex took an unsteady breath. “She’s lost so much. I don’t…”

“Then don’t.” Maggie squeezed her hand. “Don’t start doubting on me now, okay?” She tilted her head, scrounging up a faint smile. “You and me are pretty good at beating the odds, remember?”

A gunshot went off in the hall. Muscle memory had Alex reaching for a firearm she didn’t have as more shots followed, bullets pinging off the metal door.

“What the hell?” Maggie muttered after the world went quiet again.

The lock turned and Alex surged forward, throwing her weight against the door as it swung open. She nailed one agent hard, knocking them down before tackling another to the floor.

“Alex!” Maggie shouted in warning, and Alex froze, blinking down at her victim in disbelief.

“Ma’am,” Vasquez drawled, pinned between Alex’s knees.

“Wanna get off her, Danvers? Not sure I’m okay with you tackling anybody but me.” Maggie helped Lucy to her feet.

Alex scrambled off and stood, tugging Vasquez up with her. “Sorry.”

“Item off the bucket list, actually,” Vasquez confessed.

“Christ, Alex,” Lucy said. “You damn near broke my arm. Last time I rescue your ungrateful ass.”

“I was trying to rescue my own ass,” Alex grumbled as she divested the nearest fallen agent of his weapon and spare clips, handing them to Maggie. “But thanks for the assist.”

Lucy slipped a phone out of her pocket. “We’ve got a signal. Who wants to phone home?”

***

“Two minutes,” Snapper told them.

Kara fussed with her notes, her hands shaking so badly not even Supergirl’s strength could hold them steady.

“Listen.” Cat scooted forward to rest her hands on Kara’s knees. “Alex is stubborn, and driven, and strong. She is a force to be reckoned with, just like her sister. Believe in her, Kara. I do.”

A ghost of a smile crossed Kara’s lips. “She thinks you’re good for me.”

“Ah yes. I forgot smart. Alex is exceptionally smart. My only concern? Your sister will wring Lillian’s neck before I get my turn.”

Kara huffed out a weak laugh. “That’s valid.”

“One minute,” Snapper droned.

Closing her eyes, Kara said one last prayer to Rao.

Her phone rang.

Kara’s notes crumpled slightly in her hand when she saw Sam Lane’s name on the caller ID. She tapped the two-way in her ear, surging to her feet. “If you hurt my sister, there is nowhere on this Earth you can hide from me.”

There was a long, awkward pause on the other end.

“Nice. You’ve been practicing.”

“Alex?” Kara sank back into her seat. “Oh thank Rao. It is so good to hear your voice.”

Cat grinned and turned to Snapper, holding up a hand to delay them.

“Bet you never thought you’d say that when I auditioned for that punk band my junior year.”

Kara grimaced at the reminder. “You okay? Maggie?”

“We’re alive. That’s enough for now. But… there are some things you need to know.” Alex filled her in, and Kara listened with growing horror about the Cadmus base and the virus Lillian was trying to make.

“We were working for them, Kara. All of us. Giving Lillian everything she needed – almost – to wipe you and every other alien off the planet. I don’t even know where to start to fix all this.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Always. What are you going to do?”

When Kara glanced up at Cat, there was nothing but love in her eyes. “Reveal it all,” Kara said. “Use the one power I have that Cadmus can’t stop.”

“Another Danvers-Grant exclusive, huh?” Alex surmised, and Kara was pleasantly surprised by her lack of sarcasm.

“It’s easy to do the unspeakable in the shadows, Alex. We’re better off in the light. Now more than ever.”

Cat squeezed Kara’s knee in approval.

“No more secrets,” Alex agreed wearily. “It’s the only way we can start to make this right.”

“The DEO will be exposed…”

“I know. Do it, Kara. Leave no place for Luthor and her kind to hide. And no matter what happens, know that I love you, okay?”

“I love you too.”

The line went dead, and Kara tapped her two-way again.

“Ready?” Cat asked gently.

Kara nodded firmly. “Let’s do this, but there are some new details you should know first.”

***

Despite the magnetism of Cat’s television presence, M’gann spent most of the opening minutes watching J’onn’s reaction. Eventually the twitch in his jaw settled, and she shifted her focus to the screen.

James had set up additional monitors before disappearing into the satellite truck, and the picture was crystal clear as it beamed out across the social area. Although most children had been put to bed in the family suites already, the adult aliens sat around on chairs, sofas and the floor. Some polished weapons, while others were quietly testing their abilities. The room carried strange smells of sulfur and smoke, polish and something M’gann couldn’t name.

Cat finished her introduction, handing off to Kara to lead the interview. Even amongst the aliens, that seemed like a big deal. Nobody had seen Cat Grant willingly share a spotlight before. Kara, for her part, had the look of a rabbit stunned immobile by an oncoming car. She too, had dressed for the occasion. The simple shift dress looked more like one of Cat’s than anything M’gann had ever seen Kara wear, but her hair was precisely pinned, and her glasses gave that bookish appearance that made her seem so earnest.

“Thank you, Ms. Grant,” Kara said, accepting the handover as though she’d been broadcasting for years, in stark contradiction to the rictus grin on her face. Though who wouldn’t be nervous in a situation like that? M’gann’s own recent experiences with public speaking had been difficult enough.

M’Gann heard J’onn mutter _come on, Kara_ as surely as though he’d shouted it across the room. It was hard not to like a man who’d put his surrogate daughters before his career. There were more and more things to like about J’onn J’onzz, the longer she spent in his company.

On a night like this, when the walls might well come tumbling down, there was no time to entertain these thoughts. But when J’onn reached for her, squeezing her forearm gently in apprehension of how much Cat might reveal, M’gann let them run wild for just a moment, smiling quietly to herself.

***

“Of course, I wouldn’t have asked the question quite that way,” Cat deflected, determined not to go too easy on Kara. Just because this interview might be the difference between winning or losing the battle with Lillian, didn’t mean Kara shouldn’t get valuable journalistic experience from it. Who better to learn in trial by fire than the Girl of Steel, after all?

Cat smoothed her hands over her skirt, hoping to a live audience it would look like the simple fussing of someone wanting to look their best. In reality, it was the defense mechanism of someone whose hands were betraying them: from the tremble in her fingers to the dampness of her palms. It had been hard enough telling Carter about the kidnapping last week. Talking about it in front of millions? Was another beast entirely.

Kara gave her a pointed glare, but she relaxed just a fraction. The news from Alex would get them through this.

“But you can still answer it,” Kara pressed, professional to the last.

“You’re right, we should start at the beginning.” This was no time to get big-game nerves.

“A few months ago you announced that you were taking a sabbatical from CatCo Worldwide Media. I don’t have to tell you that news was greeted with a lot of surprise.”

“Yes,” Cat agreed, finding her thread. “Even more so because I made no announcement as to exactly what I’d be doing next. My life has been a matter of public record for at least two decades, so it was quite a change. And speaking of things that have changed since then, there’s something we both should disclose before going any further.”

“You’re right,” Kara said, blushing slightly in the most endearing way. “You and I have been in a personal, romantic relationship for a number of weeks. Despite that, we both agreed the most supportive way to tell this story would be for me to interview you. Does that about cover it?”

Cat was impressed. She’d been braced for the fumbles, for the _um_ s and the _I mean_ s, perhaps a rambling statement or two. Instead, Kara had answered with the sleek calmness of prepared testimony, and it left Cat wishing she could kiss her, or possibly vote for her, live television be damned.

“That’s an accurate reflection, yes. Of course, if we ruled out everyone in media who’s crazy about me, there wouldn’t be a journalist available,” Cat answered, letting her ego out to play. Hadn’t she made a career of giving the people what they wanted? Kara, quite deliciously, simply rolled her eyes. That was a giffable moment, if ever Cat saw one. She’d hound her social media team about it afterwards.

“So, to cut to the chase, since we’re interrupting scheduled programming, what happened?” Kara asked, carrying on as though they hadn’t just shared a front page gossip rag story.

Cat opened her mouth with her usual effortless confidence, but not a single word came out. Clearing her throat, she gave a sympathetic wince direct to camera, breaking one of her own rules. Only when she met Kara’s concerned gaze did the words finally come.

Cat gave an abbreviated version of the kidnapping, relying heavily on the part before she was drugged, knowing that would inevitably plant questions about her reliability. When relaying the part where she was caught in that dark truckyard by Lillian’s thugs, she closed her eyes for a moment. How many people would be smirking at their screens right now, thinking she somehow deserved all this?

“Now, we live in a world where fake news is becoming the norm,” Kara said, deviating from her prepared list of questions. “Obviously you have a reputation for getting to the truth, even the hard truths. To reassure our audience, we’re going to show some security camera footage from that night, verifying what you’ve just told us.”

“And we’re out. Three minutes,” Snapper declared, setting his watch. “You want to watch this one, Puff Princess. She might have the jump on you.”

“What the hell?” Cat demanded. “We went over this.”

“And it was starting to sound rehearsed,” Kara pointed out. “James suggested it. He has the footage, and he’s calling the shots.” She leaned in, taking Cat’s hands in her own. “I knew this wouldn’t be easy. I figured an early break to grab a drink of water and catch our breath might not be the worst thing, so I agreed.”

“You could have run it past me. Though I don’t suppose you would with any other interviewee. Any more word from Alex? Or movement from Lillian?”

“No,” Kara confirmed with a glance at her phone. “But if Adam is going to act on her orders, it’ll have to be soon. She can’t risk letting you name her, right?”

“That really was a smart call, about the footage. Establishing credibility up front. Remind me to tell James that, later.”

Cat saw Snapper move back into position, grumbling into his clipboard. “Back in sixty,” he yelled.

“You’re doing great,” Cat assured her. “Just get us to commercial and we can breathe again, okay?”

“Okay. But I might have to press you if you get vague, so be ready.”

“Oh come on, Kara. I was born ready.”

***

Adam watched footage of his mother fighting for her life in a gravel-strewn parking lot. He could hear Lillian’s voice in his head, whispering that it was staged, that Cat had only done it for attention. Some part of him believed it completely. His heart, however, wasn’t so sure.

Stumbling out of the refugee center on autopilot, Adam headed toward the satellite trucks. His orders were to make the broadcast stop. Any way he could. He scoured the rumbling vehicles for some way to kill the feed.

This didn’t feel right anymore. Not having seen what they did to Cat. They’d jumped her. How could she have staged that? Everything else she said sounded so real. How could it all be a lie to embarrass Lillian?

Adam’s head started to pound. No. The feed. He had to stop the feed. Cat didn’t want him. She didn’t love him, did she? She had given up the chance to be his mother, whereas Lillian had sought it out. They were going to do great things together, if these damn aliens would stop ruining everything.

He could grab a gun, storm inside the truck with bullets blazing, and take out the equipment and crew in one fell swoop. Lillian would smile in approval, the one that always made him feel like he’d done something right.

But then, Lillian had never told him she loved him. Lillian had never held him the way Cat had today, so tightly he could feel it in his bones. When he did something wrong, it seemed like Lillian might never forgive him. And yet despite her disappointment, Cat already had.

His backup phone buzzed in his pocket and Adam fished it out, Lillian’s name on the lockscreen. She would call them amateurs, tell him Cat was a trusting idiot not to search him more thoroughly. He could hear it without picking up. Answer Lillian. He had to answer. Stop the broadcast. Show the world they didn’t need aliens to be heroes.

He closed his eyes, seeing only the lines of disappointment on Cat’s face earlier. She’d shown him that footage of the attack on the station the way a mother might correct his homework, giving him another chance when he least deserved it. The drumbeats in his head said Lillian, Lillian, Lillian, but he couldn’t listen, couldn’t give in. No matter how much it hurt, like his head might explode.

Pain bubbled up from deep within his chest and Adam yelled, flinging his phone into the darkness. When it shattered on the asphalt, he was finally able to breathe again.

“Adam.”

Whirling around, Adam came face to face with the alien who’d pretended to be Lillian. Revulsion washed over him, but he shook his head and backed away. “Tell her I’m sorry. Tell my mother… I’m sorry.” He turned and ran, not sure where to go, only knowing he couldn’t be trusted to stay.

***

Lillian shut off the monitors in operations the moment Cat uttered her name. Sam hadn’t been right about much, but he’d been right about Cat. She should have killed her weeks ago, an oversight she intended to correct as quickly as possible.

Adam was no longer answering his phone, having either grown a spine or been detained. Damn Mercy, it should have held up this time. Another thing to blame Cat for – moving up the timeline with her sabbatical. Lillian should have used Lena instead, but corrupting Cat’s son had been too tempting to resist. Another mistake.

And little Kara Danvers, playing grown-up reporter. Lillian would show her there were consequences for exposing the truth. Not even Supergirl could save her big sister now.

Removing Alex from the equation would set Lillian’s plans back, but it wouldn’t derail them. She always had a backup, and killing Alex and Sawyer was just what she needed to improve her mood.

Snatching up her tablet, she brought up the surveillance feed in the lab. Maybe Alex would even have solved a problem or two before she and her girlfriend became the Dvorgian’s next meal. She’d be sure to send Kara a hi-res video to remember them by.

The surveillance feed revealed an empty lab, and Lillian’s hands tightened on the device. Pivoting, she flung it at the wall, barely missing a team leader’s head. “Danvers escaped. _Find her,_ ” she growled, “and kill anyone with her.”

The small squad of mercenaries hurried off, leaving Lillian to seethe in silence. She would not be brought down by Cat Grant and the Danvers sisters. Not when she was so close to realizing Lex’s dream.

Pulling a flash drive out of her pocket, Lillian plugged it into the nearest computer and called up the containment protocols. The code uploaded to the system in seconds.

“Too bad you didn’t finish my virus, Alex,” she murmured. “You keep underestimating me, right up to the last. That wasn’t the plan, dear girl. No, that was my solution. One you’ll wish you had before the night is over.”

A diagram of the first containment level came up on the monitors. There were seventy five cells in all, each of them green. As the new code went to work, they began turning red as the aliens were released.

Something finally going right, Lillian picked up her phone and called her ace in the hole. “President Marsdin,” she greeted, her voice smooth as honey. “ _‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, ‘to talk of many things.’_ ”

***

“And after you were rescued, where did you go? I think most people would assume National City General,” Kara said, seamlessly steering them into the next topic.

“Supergirl brought me to the organization she works with occasionally: the DEO. The other members of the rescue team were agents, along with one NCPD officer. I was cared for medically, and offered protection.”

“But they’re a secretive organization,” Kara continued. “Often presenting themselves as FBI or Secret Service to disguise alien involvement. There are reports that many of their prisoners have been held without trial.”

“Yes,” Cat confirmed. “And I understand the need sometimes, when it comes to national security. I fully believe we should be open and welcoming to alien visitors and refugees here on Earth. But every community requires policing, a justice system. The DEO have done that – often at great risk to their staff – but the culture of secrecy has also allowed aliens to be denied their rights. It’s where terrorists like Cadmus find dark shadows to operate in.”

“But you believe that the DEO is fundamentally…”

She saw the first fireball hit the National City Bank headquarters in x-ray vision. The explosion sounded delayed, and Cat gestured subtly to Snapper to cut the feed. From the way Snapper nodded, James must have already been on the case. The tally lights flipped off one by one, and when Cat rose from her seat a moment later, what could Kara do but follow?

“I don’t suppose–” Cat began, before more fire streaked across the sky, hitting buildings at random. Kara, used to doing it unconsciously to calculate her landings, traced the trajectories to a common source. “What kind of alien is _that_?” Cat demanded, following Kara’s gaze as they all made their way up the stairs to the damaged launch pad.

“I’ve never seen it before. It sounds like something Alex told me about once, when she was first coming clean about the DEO. But look, there’s more.” Lightning arced through the sky, shattering the glass in buildings all around them. As they looked down at the city streets, a variety of aliens, most in the huge and hulking category, made their way from what could only be the desert.

“Lillian is letting more inmates loose,” Kara worked out in a hurry.

“Well?” Snapper walked up behind them. “What the hell happened to up, up and away?”

“But the interview… Alex…” Kara could feel the tug of battle somewhere deep inside her already. Every cell in her body ached to go and defend her city.

“You heard her on the phone earlier,” Cat said. “Your sister and her DEO Spice Girls are saving themselves. The attack is the story now. Go, Kara. Be a hero and a journalist. Be all the amazing things you are at once.”

“What about you?” Kara spun into her suit, drawing a smile from Cat and an eye roll from Snapper. “Can I take you somewhere safe first?”

“We’ll run for M’gann’s center if the action gets too close. Speaking of which, if the fighting spreads uptown…”

“I’ll keep an ear out for Carter,” Kara promised, having already planned to do exactly that.

“Time’s a-wastin’, Ponytail.” Snapper tapped at his watch.

Giving Cat just the quickest of kisses, Kara threw herself into the night sky and into the fray.

***

“We can’t be the only ones left down here,” Maggie grumbled. Hands on her hips and a disgruntled pout on her face, she looked adorable.

“You complaining?” Alex asked.

“A little. I’ve got pent up irritation with Luthor to unload.”

“We get out of this, and I’ll help you with that.” Alex searched the unconscious guard at her feet. Aware of an odd silence, she glanced up to find Lucy and Vasquez eyeing her with amusement, and she rolled her eyes. “Sparring. I was talking about sparring.”

“Sure you were, ma’am.”

They’d spent ten minutes searching the bunker, encountering only minimal resistance so far. Two more Cadmus operatives lay on the ground, bringing their total to eight. It was heartening to realize Lillian didn’t have an endless supply of men to do her bidding.

Lucy and Vasquez moved ahead, trying more doors as they searched for a way out. After a moment, Maggie sauntered closer.

“Did you really mean sparring?” Her smile made Alex’s throat go dry.

“I did,” Alex said as she stood, having found nothing else useful on the guards. “Although… there are other options, I suppose.”

“Be thinking about those options, Danvers. Additional incentive to get the hell out of here.”

The phone in Alex’s pocket buzzed and she fumbled for it, frowning when she saw Kara’s number on the screen. “What’s wrong?”

“Lillian is releasing the prisoners!” Kara yelled as the wind whistled by, indicating she was in flight.

“She what?” Lucy and Vasquez hesitated in the hall, glancing back in concern. “Kara–”

“There’s no time. Alex, you have to hurry! You have to stop her!”

The line disconnected.

“What’s wrong?” Lucy asked, jogging back to them.

“You got some of those charges R&D have been working on in your vest?” Alex asked, already in motion.

“I’ve got four,” Vasquez said, keeping up. “What do we need them for?”

“To get back into the DEO. _Now._ ”

***

The fights were breaking out thick and fast, and Kara zipped her way from one to the other, trying to remember everything Alex had taught her about efficient fighting. Knock them out fast, get them secured, move on to the next. It was working until she ran into a hulking alien whose strength and speed matched her own. He landed one good hit, and Kara was blasted to the ground.

She fell sideways on impact, the concrete cratering under her. When she looked up, she expected to be rushed by the next assailant, but instead some blue-scaled aliens offered to help her stand. The parking lot of the refugee center was full of aliens, many of them in tactical gear, checking weaponry and flexing their various powers as though warming up.

Around her, Kara heard languages she hadn’t come in contact with since she was a child. Words for _love_ and _stay_ and _safe_. Families, being left in the center’s care while one or both parents joined the fight.

Having come back to beg for help, stretched beyond even her extraordinary limits, Kara allowed herself a moment to cry. This was the community she’d been missing. Looking around at the families, Kara saw love and pride and fear radiating from their faces. She saw people flinching at each fresh crash or streak of flame, those from worlds that had ended as suddenly and violently as Krypton.

She made her way through the crowds, and instead of the usual cries about her mother, about going back to Krypton and a galaxy’s worth of curses, Kara received only smiles and pats on the arm as she passed. The DEO agents were getting into formation, making space for their alien volunteers to fight alongside them. One by one, each group marched out to join the fighting, with some of the new members flying overhead or slithering on the ground beside them.

Making a less than graceful landing of his own was J’onn, who had some unruly teenage aliens under each arm. He ushered them inside before returning to lean heavily against the door frame, scrubbing a hand over his face. It was strange how quickly Kara had gotten used to his Martian form, despite seeing it so rarely.

“Catching your breath?” she asked. “Me too.”

“There have to be at least a hundred hostiles. We’ve had no success in offering them amnesty. They’re angry. They want to fight.”

“But everyone here…”

“They’re rallying. Defending the center and each other. I confess, I never thought I’d see the day.” They both stopped to look around properly, taking in the magnitude of what was happening.

“Can we do this?” Kara rolled her shoulders, already a little stiff and sore. Her healing powers were having to work overtime, and her recovery periods were getting longer as the evening wore on.

“It depends on whether Alex can stop her. If not, this could be just the first hundred of… many.”

Kara groaned, biting back a complaint about the DEO’s detention policy.

Suddenly J’onn straightened, placing a hand on his forehead. “M’gann!” he gasped. “I have to go.”

Kara cracked her knuckles. Breaktime was over. She pushed off to look for the next big attack, hoping to draw attention away from the center.

It was going to be one hell of a night.

***

“We’ve got company.” Someone was on the topside of the hatch, kicking on the metal, as Alex skidded to a stop underneath it.

Susan scrambled up the ladder as the others aimed their weapons at the hatch. She plucked a container of quarter-sized charges out of her tactical vest and ripped the lid off with her teeth, dumping the charges into her hand.

“Should you be a little more careful with those?” Maggie pointed out.

“Alien tech,” Alex explained. “Harmless until you introduce a spark.”

“And what if the guys on the other side blow the damn thing before we do?”

Alex grimaced at the possibility.

Susan slid down the ladder and pulled out a small detonator. “Everyone back. Should be localized, but these haven’t been fully tested in the field.”

“Great,” Maggie muttered as they moved to a safer distance.

They plugged their ears, and Susan pressed the trigger. Green embers rained down from the hatch as the charges ignited, sizzling loud enough to be heard over the din above. They quickly fizzled out.

“It’s supposed to do more than that, right?” Maggie asked, unimpressed.

The subsequent boom was deafening, flipping the hatch upward like a violent coin toss. Alex started running before the smoke cleared, counting on her team to have her back. As she scrambled up the ladder, it groaned pitifully, loosened by the explosion and threatening to wrench away from the wall.

Alex hefted herself out of the hole, relieved to find the team of Cadmus agents, or what was left of them, neutralized. The remaining prisoners were pacing their cells or pounding on the glass in agitation. “Clear,” she shouted down.

Vasquez scurried up next, and Alex led her toward the intake room, where a console would give her all the access she needed.

“Shut it down,” Alex ordered, entering the code and yanking the door open.

Vasquez rushed to the keyboard and brought up the schematics for the cells. “Jesus Christ. Inmates on level one and part of level two have already been released,” Vasquez confirmed as Maggie and Lucy jogged up behind them. “Over a hundred prisoners.”

Alex crossed her arms over her chest. Too many of those aliens were Fort Rozz prisoners. They’d be gunning for her sister the second they saw the crest on her chest. “Fix it before it’s twice that.”

“Are they still inside the DEO?” Lucy asked.

“Negative. The escape hatches are open. Luthor must have had the code to end the lockdown.”

“Guys.” Maggie jerked her chin at the elevators. Both were in motion, the numbers counting down.

“I’m in,” Vasquez announced. “Luthor’s locked out. Remaining containment levels secure. Deal with the elevator to the right. I’ll shut the other down.” She kept typing as Alex, Maggie, and Lucy moved into position.

“Kara isn’t alone, Alex. J’onn and M’gann have her back,” Maggie reminded her, but it was meager comfort.

“It’s three against a hundred. I don’t like those odds.”

Before Maggie could say more, the elevator doors opened, and Alex had to worry about saving herself before she could save her sister.

***

The blow sent M’gann reeling. She smashed through a set of windows and into a nameless highrise, taking out several unoccupied desks before slamming against a wall. Groaning, she sat up slowly, every muscle in her body protesting.

Breaking up the occasional bar fight was child’s play compared to battling an alien or twenty hell-bent on turning her into roadkill. How the hell did Kara do this every day?

M’gann could see the war raging across the skies of National City through the shattered windows. She hadn’t witnessed anything like this since the final battle with the Greens. Hopefully it wasn’t bringing back the same memories for J’onn.

She started to get to her feet, only for a dark figure to materialize in front of her.

“Lazing around on the job?” J’onn asked. He offered her his hand.

M’gann slid her palm into his, and he helped her to her feet. “Keeping tabs on me?”

J’onn shrugged. In his true form, cape billowing behind him, M’gann couldn’t understand how her species had ever believed his kind an abomination. He was beautiful. Before she could think better of it, she leaned in and kissed his cheek.

“My hero,” she teased.

J’onn blinked at her and slowly smiled.

The moment was ruined as a missile shrieked across the night sky, striking a target and exploding.

“They have weapons?” M’gann hurried to the window with J’onn at her side. “Bad enough Luthor turned them loose, but she had to arm them too?”

“That didn’t come from the Fort Rozz prisoners.”

A military helicopter swept into view. It threaded between skyscrapers, blowing glass around them as it chased some of M’gann’s team.

“Just when I thought this night couldn’t get any more complicated,” J’onn growled.

“Why are they attacking us?” M’gann shouted over the roar of the rotors. “We’re on their side!”

“They see no difference. As far as they’re concerned, all aliens are the enemy right now. We have to get back to the refugee center. It’s a target-rich location. If they come for it…”

Panic detonated inside her like a bomb. “ _The kids._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second and last part of the finale. We hope you’ve all enjoyed it and please, please, please let the artists and authors know what you think as you read. Your comments and tweets and asks have been the lifeblood of this virtual season. Keep it coming, and enjoy!


	13. Act IV BONUS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BONUS Sanvers

  
  


Action awesomeness from @pinkrabbitpro. Love in the comments or over at Tumblr, please! 


	14. Act V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tonight on Supergirl Virtual Season...

  
  


We're going out on a high note tonight with some of @pinkrabbitpro's finest Supercat drawings. First up, a family moment. Give much love in the comments, or hit the [tumblr ask](http://pinkrabbitpro.tumblr.com/ask)


	15. Act V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The alien population rises up to defend National City at Supergirl’s side.
> 
> Alex and the others race to stop Lillian’s plan before things get worse.
> 
> And Cat and Lillian have their final face off.
> 
> Will it be Kara’s turn to cross the line?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our editors have performed superheroic acts of their own to get this series ready for you all, so praise on them at will:  
>  catherinegrant ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/catherinegrant) | [tumblr](http://catherinegrant.tumblr.com/ask)), @spaceshipsarecool ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceshipsarecool) | [tumblr](http://spaceshipsarecool.tumblr.com/ask)), and @musetotheworld ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/musetotheworld) | [tumblr](http://musetotheworld.tumblr.com/ask))

“Kara and J’onn were afraid Lillian would retaliate,” Cat said quietly, watching her city burn from the remains of the launch pad. “I should have listened.

“You know better. A woman like Luthor doesn’t raid an alien prison unless she’s got plans for the aliens. We probably just goosed her into acting before she was ready. Might not be a bad thing.”

“National City is on fire, Lucas. That seems like a pretty bad thing.”

He shrugged. “We saw worse in Metropolis.”

Cat had to admit he was right, but the night was young. Still plenty of time for more wanton destruction. She wanted Carter with her, and at the same time wanted him as far from danger as possible. “What does Lillian possibly hope to accomplish, unleashing all these convicts on us?”

Snapper leaned on the rail, watching the scene dispassionately. “You’re letting her get under your skin. What’s Luthor’s objective?”

“What it’s always been. Get rid of alien life on Earth. Although with this nonsense, she’s likely going to get rid of all life in National City.”

“Surely she has a way to shut this down fast.”

Cat closed her eyes. “The virus.”

“What about it?”

“You’re right. Lillian planned on turning the aliens loose. She’d let them destroy us to show the world how dangerous they are. We’re just collateral damage.”

“So… she planned on using the virus to stop them with the public’s blessing,” Snapper muttered, picking up the thread. “Smart, in a diabolical, the-bitch-is-crazy kinda way.”

“But Alex thwarted Lillian’s plans when she escaped. Lillian doesn’t have the virus.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Snapper gestured at the war raging in the streets below and across the night sky. “You think Washington won’t give Luthor a team and unlimited funds to figure it out now? Might take a few days, but they’ll have every scientist in the country working to stop this. Either way, Luthor gets what she wants. An alien-free planet.”

Cat looked up at the sound of rotors overhead. “And here comes the military. How the hell did she get to Olivia so fast? That’s not the National Guard, so it has to be direct orders from the president.”

“I think the Stepford Frankenstein might have done some advance planning.” Snapper paused, his brow furrowing sharply. “How the hell are they gonna tell the good aliens from the bad?”

“They can’t. They’ll treat them all as hostile,” Cat realized, her heart sinking.

“Jesus, Grant. The refugee center.” Snapper actually looked concerned.

Cat headed for the stairs at a run. “Get me back on the air. Get me back on the air, now!”

***

As the elevator doors closed on Alex and Maggie, Lucy prayed this wasn’t the last time she’d ever see them. She headed back to Susan, stepping over the dead and wounded Cadmus agents that littered the floor in front of intake.

She grabbed her father’s phone, warm from being in Alex’s pocket, and dialed a number drilled into her memory. As bad as things were, they were likely about to get a whole lot worse.

“You calling Director J’onzz?” Susan guessed.

“Someone a little higher up the chain of command. Luthor unleashed over a hundred Fort Rozz prisoners. The military will respond, and they won’t discriminate who they blow out of the sky. This is Director Lucy Lane at the DEO,” she identified when someone answered. “I need to speak with the president immediately.”

***

“I’ve had nightmares about this.”

“About the prisoners escaping?”

Alex nodded as the elevator rose quietly. “Kara’s mother was a judge on Krypton. She sentenced a lot of aliens to Fort Rozz. Some part of me has always been scared to death they’d all get loose. Go after her at once. In my dreams, I can only stand there and watch, too human and helpless to save her.”

“You’re a lot of things, Danvers. Helpless isn’t one of them. Sometimes I question the human part too,” Maggie said, lending Alex faith in the absence of her own. “You put a lot of these aliens away once. You’ll do it again.”

“Tell me I can save her,” Alex pleaded.

“If anyone can, it’s you.”

***

“People of National City, this is Cat Grant. I know we’ve spent some time together already tonight, but there’s something much more pressing than the story of what happened to me.” Cat hadn’t prepared a single note, but this wasn’t the first time she’d had to address her audience off the cuff. She only wished they’d had more time on the air to discuss the DEO and what it meant to society as a whole. Still, like she’d told Adam, the show must go on.

“Right now, a huge injustice is happening on our streets. Due to the actions of Cadmus, of Lillian Luthor in particular, a number of criminals have been released from government captivity and unleashed on our streets. The aim of this is simple: to terrorize us.

“That’s what terrorism does. But her goals are more insidious than that. She wants you to look at these people, these violent criminals, and assume they’re just the same as your friends and neighbours who happen to come from a different planet. Cadmus want you to say it’s better to kill the innocent than deal with the few bad elements. They want you to hate everyone, to turn away people who need our help, all because they’re too selfish to share a planet we can’t even look after in the first place.

“Tonight – now, this moment – you are being asked a question. Are you the kind of person to say it’s okay for the military to be turned on law-abiding citizens? For innocent children, for their hardworking families, for the elderly and sick to be targeted, simply because of where they were born?”

Cat took a deep, steadying breath. It might not have been her finest or most polished hour, but damned if she wouldn’t stick the landing after all this.

“I hope the answer is no. It’s not okay. This won’t be done in your name, because it sure as _hell_ won’t be done in mine. There’s a line, tonight. You have to choose your side. If you want this to stop – the bigotry, the segregation, the senseless hate – then National City, we have got to show them our strength. Show them our numbers. Show them our love and compassion, for human or alien alike, is stronger than their guns, than their tricks, than their lies.

“I can’t promise it will be safe. I can’t promise no one will get hurt. I can only tell you that if we don’t act there will be a massacre on our streets tonight. If you can live with not doing anything to stop it, then stay home. If you want to do what’s right, get moving. Turn off your television and head downtown. You’ll see where you’re needed,” she said, before leaning closer to the camera.

“CatCo will be covering every second, as long as our reporters are standing. We’ll be there with you, recording and supporting and lending our voices to this fight. Let’s show everyone what kind of city we are. Let’s tell them what kind of planet we want to be. Be strong, National City.”

She made the subtle hand gesture for Snapper to cut, and the live bulb on the camera winked out.

“Thoughts?”

“Well, they might ask you to present at the Creative Emmys, but don’t hold your breath.”

No outright criticism meant a home run in Snapper Carr speak. Before she could doubt herself, her phone lit up. “Good job,” James said. “I’d follow you into battle.”

“James, if you need to move out, at least your own truck–”

“CatCo goes where the story is, right? I’ll watch my back. We did important work tonight, both times.”

“Thank you for running it. You and Snapper make quite a team.” When James hesitated, she quickly eased his mind. “Oh don’t worry, I know it’s under duress. I won’t be assigning him to you.”

“Best news I’ve heard all night. Okay, new wave of attacks. Gotta go. Camera Nine–” was the last she heard as he ended the call. He’d better get out of there in one piece, and everyone else along with him.

***

“Winn, man, get your ass back inside! It’s a warzone out here!” James didn’t mince his words, practically tackling Winn on the steps of the truck when the door swung open.

“Don’t you try and lift me again!” Winn yelped. “This is my fight too. They tried to blow me up this morning.”

“You trying to finish the job for them?”

“You heard Cat, dude. This is no time to hang back and see how it all plays out.”

“Not if you’re already injured. You could get killed out there,” James argued. “I’d be out there too, but I’ve got a broadcast to babysit.”

“Don’t you get tired of the sidelines? I know I do. And it scares the shit out of me, but sometimes I think it would be more honorable to get hurt, yeah, even killed, to actually be the one standing up and saying _not on my watch_. You know?”

“You’re right,” James conceded. “And look – we’re not the only ones who feel like it’s time to stand up.”

He gestured behind them, where the people of National City were surging down the street. Some armed, some still putting on their jackets, protest signs and whistles joining the din second by second.

“They keep coming,” Winn said in awe. “Get back to your feeds, Olsen. This is your next huge story, if it isn’t already.”

“What about you? There’s room in here. You’ll have cover at least.”

“Nah. You’ve got your frontline. It’s time I found mine. That’s what coming to the DEO was about. Getting out of my comfort zone. How many times has Kara put herself on the line for all of us? It’s the least I can do.”

“Okay.” James squeezed Winn’s shoulder. “Be safe, you hear?”

“You too. And whatever happens, you get the story out. Don’t let them cover this up.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” James moved back inside the satellite truck, and when he looked back, Winn had already disappeared into the crowd.

***

Without superspeed, Kara would already be dead. Invulnerability only went so far, especially when battling aliens with powers rivaling her own.

Each fight was brutal, swift and not entirely fair. A lot like life on Earth itself, Kara mused as she ducked an incoming fist made of supercharged clay that was somehow sentient. Not from a planet anywhere near Krypton, but her internal wiki for all this space was getting more scrambled with every hit. And she’d taken a lot of those.

The military was leaving her alone so far, but they weren’t being picky about their alien targets. As they got closer and closer to the refugee center, Kara might have no choice but to intervene.

Until she saw the giant lizard thing climbing Cat’s apartment building. Kara tried to peel away from her next battle with something more tentacle than body, but it snagged her ankle as she flew off. She’d seen those Facebook videos about wily octopi. They were trouble enough in their Earth forms.

A blast of laser vision did the trick, cauterizing whatever wound she’d caused in untangling herself. She hurtled towards Cat’s building and pulled the invading alien off the brickwork, only for it to land on a car several stories below and skitter off.

She smashed through one of the skylights, right into a coffee table that was really too flimsy for something so expensive. “Carter, I’m taking you to your mom. I’m sure your dad won’t mind, right?”

The man just nodded, struck dumb by the sight of Supergirl landing in the living room. Kara couldn’t even remember his first name, and none of the nicknames Cat had for him were appropriate around their son. To his credit, the first thing he did was pull Carter out of the line of fire, but Kara didn’t have time to negotiate.

She held out her hand to Carter. “This building is being targeted,” Kara told his father. “It’s no longer safe for you both to be here. The city is in chaos, and Cat wants Carter where she can keep him safe.”

He kissed his son on top of his head. “I guess I can’t argue with superhero protection. Text me when you’re with your mom,” he said, before backing out into the hallway.

“Aren’t you a little busy to be doing the school run, Kara?” Carter asked, accepting her hug that quickly turned into a one-armed flying carry.

“Your mom is going to want you close.”

On cue, Kara’s phone rang. She tapped her Bluetooth to answer as they zipped between buildings, keeping her trajectory unpredictable.

“Carter–” Cat began.

“I’ve got him. Just stay where you are.”

“I need to get down there and join the standoff,” Cat protested. “But Carter’s okay? Can I speak to him before I leave the DEO?”

“Sure,” Kara answered, ending the call as she landed on their improvised television set. Cat whirled around, startled by their sudden arrival. “Carter, tell your mom you still have ten fingers and ten toes.”

He held up nine fingers. “Kara flew too fast and one fell off,” he joked, and Cat gave him a watery smile before scooping him up in a hug that rivaled Kara’s own for sheer force. “Can we go join the people defending the aliens?” he asked.

“No!” Kara blurted before Cat could answer. “We’re trying to save the children already there, not add to the number in danger.”

“Kara’s right. And I think she also knows that having you here will stop me marching into danger.”

“Hey, that’s your choice,” Kara assured her, holding her hands up to avoid the argument. “I’m not trying to force your hand, I just know you both wanted to be together while all this is going on.”

“Well,” Cat conceded, hugging Carter again. “You’re not entirely wrong.”

“I have to get back,” Kara told her, joining their hug and pressing a kiss to Cat’s temple. “Be safe. I am not saving this city only to lose you in the process. That goes for you too, Carter.”

“Deal,” Carter replied. “Now go be our hero, Supergirl. I think we really need one right now.”

***

Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose. “Madam President. You can’t do that. The situation–”

“You are in no position to tell me what I can and cannot do, Director Lane,” President Marsdin said with palpable disdain. “These other aliens will be wiped from the Earth for this. It’s for the best.”

“What did you just say?” This wasn’t the woman who’d pushed so hard for the Alien Amnesty Act, who believed completely in J’onn and Supergirl. “Ma’am, with all due respect, I think you’ve been–”

“They’re attacking one of our largest cities. There are consequences for that,” Marsdin hissed.

Lucy lowered the phone. “What was that phrase? The one Luthor used to try and trigger Cat?”

Susan recited it without hesitation, and Lucy repeated it to the president.

Marsdin paused. Lucy waited to be derided for spouting gibberish, but then Olivia started ranting, even more strident than before.

Lucy lowered the phone again. “Lillian got to her too, and I think I just made it worse. What’s the trigger to deactivate?”

“You assume there is one.”

“There has to be. Lillian would keep it simple and easy to remember. What’s the damn line after it. Look up–”

“Of shoes – and ships – and sealing wax – Of cabbages – and kings – And why the sea is boiling hot – And whether pigs have wings,” Susan repeated from memory.

Lucy gaped at her.

“I looked up the whole passage after the incident at CatCo. Besides, I have an English minor. I like to read,” Susan said defensively.

“This works? I’m kissing you again.” Lucy rattled off the lines into the phone.

There was another unnatural pause from the president, and Lucy held her breath.

“Director Lane?” Oliva said slowly. “What were we… what were we talking about?”

Lucy pointed at Susan. “Definitely getting kissed.”

“What?” the president asked, confused.

“Madam President, we need you to stand down any forces engaging the alien population in National City.”

Susan kept working, but a slow, pleased smile spread across her lips.

***

A garbage truck went hurtling towards the center’s front doors, and Kara summoned her speed and strength to intercept it. Although the metal still crumpled on impact, this time Kara felt the bruising force of it, almost as though her bones could break.

Had she ever been this tired before? Kara couldn’t think of a time. Someone spitting fire came in hard from the west. She sucked in deeply before blasting them into place with her freeze breath. Should she have called Kal? How many were already injured? Dead? All because she couldn’t save everyone herself.

As she turned around, Kara was stunned to see the streets around the center filling with people. Just a trickle at first, but then the chants started, the whistles began to blow. It looked just like the protests that had broken out over M’gann and Maggie.

The parking lot was soon overflowing with protesters. Humans mostly, but some of the last aliens who’d remained in hiding were there as well, arm in arm. As realization swept across the combatants, the rat-a-tat fire of the military weapons paused.

“J’onn?” Kara called out. He was at her side a second later.

“What’s all this?”

“I don’t… where are all these people coming from? Humans.”

J’onn looked up at the armed militia. “I’ll be damned. The guns are stopping; they won’t fire on their own people. Why do I sense your girlfriend’s hand in this? There’s still plenty of escaped criminals to round up, though.”

“Right there with you,” Kara promised. She pulled him into a hug, needing the comfort. “Thanks for fighting with me tonight. M’gann, too.”

“Nowhere else I’d be,” J’onn assured her, rubbing gentle circles on her back. For a girl who lost her parents, Kara couldn’t be more grateful to have gained two father figures who would let her get lost in a hug like this. “Let’s tidy this up, and deal with Luthor once and for all.”

***

“You did that,” Carter said in quiet awe.

They stood alone in the remains of the DEO, Snapper having gone outside to check in on James. Cat wrapped her arm around Carter’s shoulders, holding him close as reflections of fire flickered over the rubble around them. As they watched the monitors that hadn’t been packed yet, the military peeled away from the refugee center, and the crowd erupted in celebration. Cat’s eyes filled with tears. James would win another Pulitzer for this.

“All I did was give them the idea, an action they could take. It wouldn’t have meant much, just me standing there. But all these people, they made the difference. Without their compassion and bravery, it would have been nothing but empty words.”

“Still. I’m proud of you. My mom kicks ass.” Carter was the one to initiate a hug this time. Cat chuckled, her soul lighter than it had felt all day. The heaviness in her heart over Adam would take a long time to heal, but for now she’d have to hope he was safe from Lillian, and that she could keep him that way going forward.

“Language, young man,” she scolded with improving humor. The night was far from over, but she’d savor the victories where she could find them.

“You probably think you’ve won.”

Cat sucked in a cold breath, spinning around and tucking Carter protectively behind her. Lillian sauntered out of the shadows, gun in hand and a deranged smile on her face. How the hell had she even gotten past the guards? More importantly, who had she brought with her? The same goons who’d torched her old station? Whatever the answers, Cat realized that she was the only protection she and Carter had. It would have to be enough.

***

“I must confess, Cat, I never thought you’d do it. Throw away that precious reputation of yours. The whole city must think you’re insane with that little tale you weaved tonight.” Though clearly some fools must have fallen for it, judging by the way Lillian’s phone had been blowing up for the past hour.

“Maybe they did. Until you released all those aliens. I like to drive my points home, Lillian, but this is overkill.”

“Overkill. Hmm. Let’s hope so.” Lillian did enjoy a little pun now and then. It had been such a long day, and everyone had been so _disappointing_. “By sunrise, most of the aliens in this city will be dead or jailed. As it should be. I was hoping to avoid too much destruction, but your girlfriend and her sister had to be… problematic. Alex should have finished my virus. We could have ended all this quickly and efficiently. Kept human casualties to a minimum.”

“You’re crazy,” Carter muttered, and Cat looked panicked that he had spoken up. No wonder, seeing as it had brought him front and center in Lillian’s attention. A dangerous place for anyone connected to Cat Grant. “Supergirl will stop you.”

He was still cowering behind his mother, Lillian noted. Lex had done that at his age. Taunting others, then having the good sense to hide behind an authority figure. “You’ve gotten so much taller since I saw you last, Carter. Turning into quite the smart, handsome young man, aren’t you?”

“I couldn’t stop you getting to Adam, but don’t you _dare_ touch him.” Oh dear, did Cat really think that was intimidating? She hadn’t fought for Adam, so why would she bother over this one?

“You’re in no position to make demands. Where’s your Girl of Steel now, Cat?” Lillian stepped closer, waving the gun just enough to hold Cat’s complete attention on it.

“Sam wanted you dead the moment you slipped out of our grasp,” Lillian continued, a dull ache in her chest. Perhaps she’d miss him more than she realized. He’d been one of the few people to see the point in Lex’s crusade against the Kryptonians. They said it was lonely at the top, but somehow Lillian had ended up entirely alone. That hadn’t been the plan at all. “I should have listened to him. It’s a mistake I intend to remedy in his memory.”

“This is between you and me. Let my son go.” Still arrogant. Still bargaining. That the Cat Grants of this world got to live freely while others were so misunderstood was a gross injustice. One Lillian would redress tonight, the cherry on top of being declared humanity’s savior once the released aliens trashed this worthless city. There was a reason she hadn’t targeted Metropolis, after all. Time to turn Cat down. Emphatically.

“I don’t think so. Lex is in jail. Adam is in the wind. Lena is worthless. I could use a new protégé, and Carter would fit the bill nicely.” Lillian lifted her weapon. She had always been the only one with courage enough to follow through. “Tell him goodbye, Cat. Although by the time I’m done with him, he’ll be glad you’re dead.”

***

“Stay away from her!” Carter shouted, pushing Cat down and out of the line of fire.

Lillian stumbled back as Cat fell, and Carter charged forward. Whether she was too shocked to shoot or possessed some last shred of humanity, Lillian didn’t pull the trigger. Cat’s son and nemesis went down in a heap, Carter throwing ineffectual punches as he tried to protect his mother.

Lillian backhanded him with the gun, and Carter went limp and slumped over.

Cat barely recognized her own scream as she moved towards Lillian. How could she? What kind of monster would hurt a child? Her sweet, darling boy. Cat would kill her. With the adrenaline coursing through her, she could lift a car, would move a damn mountain to make Lillian pay for this. Nobody laid a hand on her son, not as long as Cat had a breath in her body.

The gun went off as Cat made her own dive forwards. The shot rang in her ears, but she slammed Lillian back into the ground before she could get up. In a move that would make Alex proud, she slammed her forehead into Lillian’s face. Lillian’s nose broke with a satisfying crunch, and Cat saw a few stars herself.

Getting the upper hand, Cat smashed Lillian’s hand on a chunk of rubble, sending the gun skittering away.

With a bloody, feral snarl, Lillian’s hands wrapped around Cat’s throat. Cat scratched and clawed at her maniacal grip, nails getting no purchase on those bony fingers. Lillian rolled them over, bearing down with more force, and Cat thrashed for air.

***

Kara threw herself into fight after fight, taking down aliens of all sizes when they refused to come quietly and accept amnesty. The whole time she kept her superhearing focused on Cat and Carter. Just keeping an ear on them wasn’t ideal, it sounded more like background noise than actual conversation, but at least she knew they were safe.

Until she heard Carter yell.

Struggling free of her current opponent and his spikes, Kara nearly broke the sound barrier for the second time that day. Heart lodged in her throat, she hurtled through downtown National City and crashed past what remained of the glass above the launch pad at the DEO.

Carter was on the floor, unmoving, and Lillian…

Kara touched down like a hurricane, gripping Lillian by the collar and tossing her aside. Focused on saving Cat, she only modulated her strength out of habit. Lillian crashed into a pile of rubble, dazed and struggling to get up.

“Cat?” Kara leaned over her, terrified until Cat coughed, sucking in air. Red marks in the shape of Lillian’s long fingers were already marring the delicate skin of Cat’s neck.

“I’m okay,” Cat gasped, clutching at her throat as she sat up.

Kara turned her attention on Carter, spying a trickle of blood from his busted lip and a darkening contusion on his cheek. Of all the lines to cross, wounding a child was one too far.

Rage roared through her like a flash fire, making Kara’s eyes glow white hot.

Just about back on her feet, Lillian made an unsteady lunge for her fallen gun. Before she could reach it, Kara incinerated it with her heat vision. The bullets expanded and exploded, bouncing harmlessly off Kara’s suit. Lillian recoiled instinctively, and Kara advanced on her, letting every step crash down as a warning of her power, causing the floor to tremble in her wake.

“You hurt them,” Kara growled. She kicked another piece of large debris out of the way, sending it hurtling into the damaged screens in the command center. “You almost killed Winn. You murdered fifteen people in this building this morning. People I cared about.”

“Kara!” Cat called out.

Lillian backed up slowly, and Kara exulted at the fear in her eyes. She’d lost too much, and this creature had taken even more, wanted to take it _all_. What did this selfish monster know of loss? Of grief? Had she been flung into the stars all alone? Had the end of her world, the death of everyone she loved, condemned her to two decades of drifting in loneliness? This _human_ had everything: a family and a planet, money and power, yet still she wasn’t satisfied. She wanted to leave others to suffer, to turn away those most in need. It was a crime too far, a wrong that could not go unpunished. If she’d been angry with Donovan as half of herself, the roar of Kara’s temper was so much louder now that she was whole.

“I always knew you had this in you,” Lillian sneered. “Lex was right.”

“Kara, sweetheart, don’t!” Cat pleaded, stumbling over more debris to get to them. “Don’t let her do this to you. Don’t let her turn you into something you’re not. You’re Kara Zor-El, you’re Kara _Danvers_ , and you are so much better than Lillian Luthor could ever hope to be. Don’t sink to her level.”

Lillian didn’t beg for her life, but oh, Kara wanted her to. She wanted her to know the same fear Lillian had inflicted on Cat. On J’onn. On Maggie. “You took Alex from me. Jeremiah. My _family_.” Lashing out, Kara caught Lillian by the throat. Her fingers tightened, bruising her skin the same way Lillian had bruised Cat’s.

Kara shoved Lillian into the wall and hefted her off the ground with negligent ease. It would be so easy to snap her neck, to end this. To keep the people she loved safe. Barely any pressure to destroy the source of their pain, to rid the world of this toxic human who would sooner corrupt it.

“Do it,” Lillian choked out. “Do it!”

“Kara!”

It was the disappointment in Carter’s voice that stopped her, his distress enough to still her hand.

She released Lillian instantly, letting her crumple and slide down the wall. Only then did Kara dare look back at Cat and Carter. She never wanted to see a child look at her that way again, especially one she was coming to love as though he were her own. The way his bottom lip trembled… Kara had truly scared him. Her anger defused in an instant, as though a wire had been snipped.

The heat slowly faded from Kara’s vision, replaced by a chill at what she’d nearly done, at how much she’d wanted to cross that line. She hung her head as Lillian took shuddering breaths behind her.

Kara forced herself to look up. Her family, something new and beautiful but fragile. Had she just lost them for good? She hesitated before moving closer. Did they know they held her heart in their hands right now? That if they flinched, if they turned away, that her heart might never be whole again? “I’m sorry,” she whispered, after a step or two. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Carter said, a little unsteady on his feet but closing the distance between them to hug her tightly around the waist. She looked to Cat, who had struggled to her feet and was picking her way across the rubble to join them. Had Kara ruined what was between them? Would Cat pull Carter away and order Kara out of their lives?

But Cat hugged her as tightly as Carter, pausing only to kiss the remaining question off her lips. Even Carter had no complaints about that kiss, though he wriggled when it lasted more than a second.

“She deserves it,” Cat said. “And if you had? It wouldn’t have changed a damn thing in how I feel about you. But for your sake, I’m glad you didn’t. I don’t want her to force you to live with that.”

Kara let a little sob of relief escape before ruffling Carter’s curls.

“I knew you couldn’t do it,” Lillian spat, inching away from them. “You think mercy is a strength? It’s a crutch for the those with no spine for doing what needs to be done. You’re _weak_ , Supergirl. You don’t deserve those powers.”

“Don’t need powers to do this!”

Lillian whirled at the voice behind her, and Alex dropped her with one punch.

“Alex!” Kara blurted.

“Sorry we’re late.” Alex straightened slightly, looking bedraggled in her DEO uniform, with one sleeve conspicuously missing. She grunted as Kara slammed into her, wrapping her up in a crushing hug. “Jesus, Kara. I didn’t fight my way out of a bunker only for you to suffocate me.”

“Well,” Cat said as she and Carter came closer. “Eliza certainly taught her daughters how to make an entrance.”

Alex huffed out a dry laugh as Kara loosened her grip, but not by much. “Everybody okay?” she asked, looking her sister over with concern.

“We’re fine, now.” Kara tried for confident, but it came out exhausted instead. “Where did you come from? And shouldn’t this place be swarming with Cadmus agents?”

“Stairs,” Alex answered. On cue, Maggie staggered out of the stairwell. “Turns out Cadmus has been running a skeleton staff lately. The ones that were left didn’t think the paycheck was worth it anymore. She’s on her own.”

Kara stepped back, quickly scanning Maggie and her sister for injuries. She was relieved to find nothing serious. “I’m so glad to see you. Both of you.”

Maggie dropped to her knees beside the unconscious Lillian, prodding her to make sure the threat was contained. “You were supposed to wait to punch her until I got here,” she groused.

Alex smirked, unapologetic.

“I had it under control. You didn’t need to hit her,” Kara said, crossing her arms.

“Yeah. Kinda did.”

“How much did you…” Kara ducked her head at the thought of Alex seeing her so close to losing it.

“Enough.” Alex pulled her close again, gently kissing Kara’s cheek. “And I still love you. I’m still crazy proud of you.”

Lillian began to stir, groaning pitifully.

“Lillian Luthor,” Maggie said once she had caught her breath. “You are under arrest for a list of charges as tall as I am. Hell, maybe as tall as you are. You have the right to remain silent…”

Alex looked on with a tired grin as Maggie made the collar of her career. With that wrapped up, she turned back to Kara. “You headed back out there?”

Kara nodded, but she wanted desperately to stay, feeling safe and steady for the first time all day.

“We’ll keep an eye on things here,” Alex promised as Kara stepped back.

Cat took her place, surprising both Danvers sisters by sliding her arm around Alex’s waist and drawing her into a one-armed hug. “And Carter and I will do the same.”

Alex chuckled and draped an arm around Cat’s shoulders. Kara smiled so wide it hurt, her vision blurring with tears as she tucked the memory away as one to cherish.

“Could be a long night,” Kara warned them.

“We’ll wait,” Cat said.

With one last lingering look, Kara returned to the fight.

***

Alex woke with a start, registering the world had finally gone quiet. There were no explosions, no planes, no traffic. Everything was utterly still.

Maggie was curled up at her side, sound asleep. Alex was tempted to rejoin her, but the mattresses she’d scrounged from the medical bay were far from comfortable on the DEO floor.

Easing up on her elbows, she checked on Cat and Carter, relieved to see them sleeping peacefully. The gray light of dawn filtered in through the shattered windows, the early fall air still tinged with a hint of smoke. Alex took a deep breath and turned her gaze toward the sky, her thoughts shifting to Kara.

But her sister was already on solid ground, sitting on the steps and watching Cat and Carter with the sweetest smile Alex had ever seen on her lips.

Alex slipped out of Maggie’s hold. Maggie grumbled, wrapping herself around her pillow before relaxing back into slumber. Committing the sight to memory, Alex shuffled to Kara’s side and sat next to her on the stairs.

Kara smelled sharply of sulphur and smoke, with streaks of soot smeared over her face and neck. Ash was ground into the texture of her suit, and small patches of blue had been ripped away from her arms. She looked like the happiest woman on Earth after a night of sheer hell.

“You’re gross,” Alex teased quietly. Kara’s smile got a little wider. “If you could see the sappy look on your face…”

“Don’t have to,” Kara shot back. “If it’s anything like the way you just looked at Maggie, then it’s definitely gross.”

Busted. “You okay?” Alex asked softly

Kara’s gaze lingered on Cat and Carter, but her smile slowly faded. “Lillian tried to take them from me tonight. I’m not sure what would have happened if she had.”

The answer wasn’t something Alex wanted to think about.

“How about you?” Kara asked, quickly changing the subject.

Alex sighed, raking a bruised hand through her hair. “Apparently I’ve been working for Cadmus. Played a part in hurting a lot of people.”

“Alex…”

“That virus is in my head now, Kara. How to make it. What it does. Dad thought you’d be safe, but I know your biology better than my own. If Lillian had used other means to make me solve that damn thing, I…” Her throat rippled around a hard swallow.

“That might not be a bad thing. I nearly crossed a line last night. I _wanted_ to. I don’t have Red K to blame this time – it was all me. It’s going to be a long time before I trust myself again. If I ever will.”

“Even though we won, we lost,” Alex murmured.

“Maybe. But you and me are still here, and so are they.” Kara tipped her head at their newfound family. “That’s all that matters.”

It was, Alex had to admit. With a groan, she got to her feet. “I should get moving. Lot of work to do.”

Kara caught her hand, tangling their fingers. “Stay? Keep me company until they wake up.”

Alex sat back down and squeezed her sister’s hand, Kara settling her head on Alex’s shoulder. They sat in companionable silence, waiting on their loved ones to join them.

Whatever came next, they’d all face it together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second and last part of the finale. We hope you’ve all enjoyed it and please, please, please let the artists and authors know what you think as you read. Your comments and tweets and asks have been the lifeblood of this virtual season. Keep it coming, and enjoy!


	16. Act V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tonight on Supergirl Virtual Season

  
  


Taking us through the end credits is this brilliance from @pinkrabbitpro. Give much love in the comments, or hit the [tumblr ask](http://pinkrabbitpro.tumblr.com/ask)


	17. Act V (bonus)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Want to get inspired by a Cat Grant speech?  
  
---  
  
Gorgeous gifset courtesy of mitski ([ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/mitski) | [tumblr ask](https://mitski.tumblr.com/ask)). Be sure to let her know how much you love it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is folks, the last post of Burn Part 2: the SGVS finale...
> 
> ... but it is NOT the very end of the story. Keep an eye out this weekend to find out what happened next...


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